Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Secretary General and his colleagues for coming here this afternoon. There has not been a huge amount of academic research done on this interesting topic and it might merit research.

The traditional system of accountability is that civil servants are accountable to their superiors and, ultimately, to the Minister and then the Minister is accountable to the Dáil and obviously to the Taoiseach. Has that changed in recent years? Are there other bodies to whom civil servants are accountable now?