John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. At our earlier meeting Senator Higgins and Deputy Farrell raised the issue of the lack of information the committee is receiving on the EU recovery and resilience fund. While it is not the Taoiseach's Department, the committee would like to have a detailed and comprehensive response from the Minister and the Government on that fund as it operates. If the Taoiseach could assist in that regard, it would be helpful.

Second, we will have separate meetings on this but it would be helpful if the letters that went to the various individuals regarding the pay agreed for the Secretary General of the Department of Health were furnished, and that those involved furnish the committee with the relevant information that they were asked for. It is disappointing that their responses have been extremely slow, to say the least, and inadequate in terms of the extent of the information required by the committee. I ask the Taoiseach to consider the work of the committee and what it is trying to achieve. It is not personal to anybody or anyone who holds the position of Secretary General; it is simply that the committee has agreed a work programme, has set out the information it requires from the various individuals concerned but the response to date has not been to the standard that I expect from senior civil servants and politicians. We intend to proceed with our hearings and ask the Taoiseach to influence the others we have written to to ensure that the information required by the committee is forthcoming and that we can deal with the issue comprehensively.