Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that I have a strong interest in this project being delivered, as does everybody else. I have a strong interest as well, as a member of this committee, in it being done in the most efficient way for the State. This is the second time that Mr. Gunning has appeared before this committee and he also gave evidence to the Joint Committee on Health last week. Mr. Gunning has an obligation to be here and to answer these questions being asked by public representatives, as do officials from the Department. It is completely correct that we hold Mr. Gunning to account in this way, but I also acknowledge that we are doing that at a time when he is also fighting this battle on behalf of the State.

I turn to a different point mentioned by Ms Prendergast in response to a question from Deputy Carthy, although I will not use phrases such as "as clear as mud", which I do not think help anyone, to try to get into newspapers. I refer to going into the Department some three years from now when this contract is completed. It has been stated that there is ongoing analysis, presented by Mr. Gunning to Ms Prendergast, where updates are provided based on the challenges coming in, the expected costs and the liability that may go a certain way if those costs come in or not. There is a stream of documentation between Mr. Gunning and Ms Prendergast in this regard. If representatives of this committee went to the Department of Health in a private context, and if these documents were to remain private and not to be leaked in some fashion, I wonder if would we get to see this documentation, analysis and accountability throughout. Presumably, the Comptroller and Auditor General will have access to all this material at a later stage. All this material exists.