Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Carthy on the terminology and that the timeframe was late. This is not information that is unknown; it is known. The committee would not view this as an acceptable response. There will be issues and they are linked to this. For example, a precedent was set regarding the remuneration for the Secretary General at the Department of Health. Would that pay scale carry if the person was reshuffled? That is an example of a question that will crop up and we have not had a response yet to the report of the committee that was sent to the Department. We have to keep an eye on that to make sure we get an adequate response.

Mr. Moloney states: "The Department had already agreed to consider a range of possible changes to the appropriation account framework for 2022."

The person who is probably best placed to know the impact of that is the Comptroller and Auditor General. It would be useful to hear whether that has gone far enough. In Mr. McCarthy's opinion, is it a meaningful difference? Could the changes to the framework go further?