Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support Deputy Catherine Murphy on that final point.

On point No. 6, we asked who had decided not to provide us with the most up-to-date national children's hospital report indicating the status of that particular project. The response is essentially that no single organisation chose not to furnish it to us. It was a collective decision of the board and the Department. This is crucially important. It sets a worrying precedent in terms of the ability of this committee to do its job if Departments are essentially refusing to provide us with pertinent information.

The Standing Orders of the Houses indicate that committees are entitled to request and handle confidential documents. I seek clarification as to whether there is recourse for this committee via the Ceann Comhairle to pursue this matter further. We should not accept that there is a refusal on the part of the Department to provide the Committee of Public Accounts with documentation that the committee has sought clearly related to its work programme.