John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am coming to that point. I have allowed you to say what you had to say. I want to clarify the facts here. We had to seek compellability, which was granted. I want those who are listening to understand that the clerk then contacted you as a courtesy to say that the committee had compellability but asking would you, understanding this, like to attend voluntarily. It is the first time I can remember that the Oireachtas has granted compellability powers to a committee. It is extraordinary that a Secretary General of a Department as significant as the Department of Health and with experience in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Delivery Plan and Reform, should have to be compelled. You are the first Secretary General I know of where agreement was reached to compel you to attend.

That is the background to the committee meeting. Others have come before it in relation to the issue and they have clarified what they knew and did not know. I can say from the evidence of Mr. Martin Fraser, as then Secretary to the Government, that he did not know the detail. That is the evidence I heard when he came here. Others gave similar replies. We could not verify any of this at the time because you would not attend. This makes the work of the committee very complicated because we do not have all sides of the story. You are someone who has always said: "Give me a chance to answer, I may not give the right answer or what is expected of me, but I will tell you what I believe the answer to be." It sets a very bad example for the other Secretaries General and indeed for the young civil servants who perhaps aspire to become a Secretary General some day. Would you not agree with that?