Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The thing is it blends because, for example, the person would understand the issues with recruitment and be held to account here. It costs a lot of money to train recruits. I have a case of one young recruit in Kildare who is not currently serving. When he joined up he was told he would get a place in a unit in the Curragh Camp. He was sent off to Galway where he was trained and then he was told his return to the Curragh Camp had been revoked. He then applied for a discharge, which he got because it became untenable for him. How do the Defence Forces hold on to people? It is not just about pay and conditions; it is also about living conditions. Somebody has to be directly accountable. We leave our colours at the door here in terms of politics when people come into the Committee of Public Accounts but then we have somebody who is directly accountable for that kind of waste of public money. There is a bit of Teflon going on here in terms of the separation of the two. While Ms McCrum is the person who is the Accounting Officer, should she be the Accounting Officer in relation to this?