Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Secretary General and his officials for coming in. We often engage in the social protection committee. I was not surprised by his approach to appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts today in contrast to some of the people who we have before us. We got all of our documentation in a timely fashion. I found the briefing material very useful. I think there is a culture of transparency and openness and a pride, as Mr. McKeon mentioned in his opening statement. I think he has legitimate pride in the work that his Department has done. I have praised him at the other committee and am happy to praise him here, when considering the response in the lifetime of this Government and the buffeting that the Department has taken from all sides. When the Government announces a new payment, one-off or otherwise and of one type of another, I often think it is fine for a Minister to stand up and make the announcement, but I do not know how Mr. McKeon retains it in his head as he tries to implement those decisions. He has done an outstanding job over the past three or four years, including on the pandemic response, the Ukrainian response and the cost-of-living crisis that we have had to deal with. The Department of Social Protection has, by and large, done an outstanding job. I wanted to start by taking the opportunity to praise Mr. McKeon.

I will pick up on something Deputy Burke raised. Mr. McKeon did not have the figure to hand and has maybe got it since. He asked about the figure recovered through the pandemic unemployment payment.