Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is no indication of any meeting.

My second question relates to the point Ms Tallon is making, which I feel is extremely legitimate and important. I refer to the difficult position that Ms Moylan was put in. I do not want to personalise the matter because any civil servant in her position would have been put in that position. If one reads the letters going backwards and forwards, as I have done, one will note the circumstances were quite bizarre. Ms Moylan was a full member of the board, legitimately appointed to meet board responsibilities. I accept that. Despite this, the chief executive of the body of which Ms Moylan was a board member was writing to her in her other capacity about decisions made by the board and advancing them within the Department. It is quite crazy. Ms Tallon quite correctly stated Ms Moylan was put in a difficult position but we did not put her in that difficult position.

Is Ms Tallon saying this could not happen again? The assistant secretary with responsibility for planning served on a board and attended meetings at which decisions were made and, when the board through its chief executive needed to communicate with the Department, it wrote to the same board member wearing her other hat and she wrote back. The paper trail is almost absurd as is the fact that someone could switch hats so quickly. It is not a personal criticism but rather an observation on the system. I would like to be provided with a view as to how it was decided that the best person to appoint to the board was Ms Moylan, given her role within the Department. I would also like Ms Tallon to reiterate the assurance that this could not happen again.