Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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It is also important that we have the CEO here, who is the Accounting Officer and where the buck stops. A less senior person can always divert things back and we maybe do not get as good responses. It is very important that we have the most senior official here. We have dealt with this matter; we will get them in as part of our work programme. It is proposed to note and publish the item of correspondence. That is agreed.

No. 1374B is from Mr. John Hogan, Secretary General of the Department of Finance, dated 22 July 2022, providing information requested by the committee regarding the separation of Irish Water from the Ervia Group. Members will have noted that, according to the Department, post separation, Irish Water will become accountable to the committee. It is proposed to note and publish this item of correspondence. This matter has been a big bone of contention with some of us who were Members of the Thirty-first Dáil, including Deputy Catherine Murphy and me. At that time, we raised the fact that there was a fatal flaw in the establishment of Irish Water in that it was not going to be accountable to the Comptroller and Auditor General or to the Committee of Public Accounts. It is to be welcomed that that is now happening. Deputy Murphy also flagged this.