Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State mentioned custom and practice and I acknowledge that he is correct. When a committee requests the chairperson or the chief executive of an agency to appear before it, it is custom and practice for him or her to attend. However, it has been written into the legislation that they must attend before it. We have acknowledged, in drafting the legislation, that we should not rely on custom and practice when it comes to the chairperson or the chief executive of the agency. This issue is not contentious. However, we should not rely on custom and practice when dealing with the chairperson of any other committee. If, for example, the finance committee wants the CEO of the NTMA to attend before it, plus the chairperson of the investment committee, there should be an obligation on them to respond. The committee should not receive one year, five years or ten years later a letter from the CEO stating only he or she will attend. I have tabled the amendment because we have no idea what is down the line. I hope a committee of the Oireachtas will not need to request the chairperson of one of these committees to attend. There may be hostility, friction or tension between the chairperson of a committee and an Oireachtas committee. If I were chairperson in that situation I might decide not to attend and excuse myself by quoting subsection (6B)(ii) which states the only people who must attend before the committee, as laid down in the legislation, are the chairperson of the agency and its CEO. The CEO would probably not be able to do anything about the matter. Truthfully, such a scenario would cause further tension. I agree with the Minister of State that there is custom and practice and, to my knowledge, this has not been an issue heretofore. The investment committee is important, which is why I have singled it out. However, I want its chairperson and the chairperson of any other committee, if requested in writing by the committee to do so, to attend also.