Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 November 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management

9:30 am

Photo of Colm BurkeColm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Department feels it cannot make decisions because of the restrictions of existing legislation, is it not time for the Department to come to the Minister and tell him that they need particular legislation to be amended to allow them to deal with these issues? We have used the planning Acts. For instance, we used different areas of legislation during Covid-19 because it was an emergency and we wanted to save lives. In fairness, all the Government Departments made sure that every possible step that could be taken was taken. We are now in the same situation in relation to flood relief work. This is not a project that we will be able to deal with ten years from now. Is it not time for the Department to review the current processes that are in place?

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