Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think that point has been made earlier and it is being made to the witnesses. The committee is not satisfied by the fact the level of detail that was applied in previous years has not been applied this year. We have asked for that to be noted and for consideration to be given to giving a breakdown to this committee, similar to what was given previously, in order for the committee to do its job insofar as it is entitled and expected to do on behalf of our constituents, namely, to ensure we will get classification and clarification of the components associated with that €708 million.

As for guessing about it or surmising as to what Mr. Gloster did or did not say, I am sure we could ask him to appear before the committee to account for his discussions with the Department and the Minister in respect of the ask he had. This, however, is specifically to do with standing still, the costs associated with maintaining the services, the facilities and the offering the Department gave this year, and repeating that next year. Mr. Gloster could very well be talking about many capital or other spending costs, in addition to that, that he had sought and have not been given. Likewise, there may be clarification to be got from others regarding that or whether an additional Covid payment is to be made to accommodate some of those requests. I do not know.

As far as the Committee on Budgetary Oversight is concerned, however, there is not adequate clarification or classification of the standing-still costs and that is disappointing, to say the least, considering the level of detail that was there previously. We would have thought that would be consistent and repeated, but it has not been and that is a failure. That should be called out and it needs to be accounted for by the witnesses and those within their Department by coming back before the committee and explaining it.