Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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If I have understood the amendment correctly, I think it is a very sensible amendment. The paragraph relates to the chief executive coming before the Oireachtas, so mainly to this committee, I imagine, and probably the Committee of Public Accounts. There is a get-out clause, which says that the chief executive officer "shall not be required to give an account before a Committee of any matter relating to the general administration of the Executive which is, or has been, or may at any future time be, the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal in the State”. That provision pretty much gives carte blanchefor the chief executive officer to just never appear. Deputy O'Reilly's amendment is spot on and does not try to delete the paragraph.

One cannot have a situation where the head of the health service says, "I am not coming in because at some point in the future somebody may take a case over" whatever. Almost everything that this committee has discussed in the past year could lead to legal cases in the future. The amendment is very good and I am inclined to support it. Perhaps the Minister of State has a solid legal reason the provision must be included. In the absence of a solid argument by the Minister of State, I do not see why one would give that sort of carte blancheto any executive officer.