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

Again, the correspondence does not provide the clarity required. It appears to me that the justification for a salary above the scale previously set down was justified from a business case presented by Horse Racing Ireland itself. The new CEO was appointed before the new salary was approved. I would love to know what would have happened if the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had not approved the new salary. Would the CEO have stepped down? If not, there would have been no need for the increased salary in the first place. It is public money. I do not know whether we can secure a route to assert whether the salary was justified and necessary and represented value for money. Perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General could point us in the direction we need to go to seek clarification. I am aware representatives of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will be before us shortly. Perhaps that is the best avenue but I am open to direction.