David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With respect, Mr. Watt is not getting this at all. He lost the run of himself. I am currently reading a book entitled Pandemonium. I am sure he will at some time read it himself. It seems officials in the Department described him as "Minister Watt". To many people, it seems he is the one making decisions, rather than the Minister for Health doing so. He cannot say that he was going to seek retrospective approval. Once he was committing in writing €2 million a year in recurring funding to an outside body, he had an absolute obligation to inform the Minister for Health. He failed to do so. He had an absolute obligation to inform the Government. He failed to do so. He had an obligation when he was before this committee. He failed to do so. That is an overreach on his part. With respect, we cannot have senior civil servants committing taxpayers' money without any democratic oversight - which is what was happening here - and hoping that when it is all done and dusted they can then get some sort of seal of approval. Mr. Watt did not inform the relevant people right through this process. In my view, he failed in his duty because of that.