Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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This is important because there is a situation here whereby the report very clearly states that accepted protocols were bypassed.

It further states that funding mechanisms breached all acceptable norms in scrutiny, transparency and accountability. Even prior to this report and prior to the publicity that happened, there was a massive divergence in the role that the Secretary General should have taken in indicating the information to the Minister. Since the report has been written, there has been a black and white binary divergence that cannot be papered over and cannot be bridged between the Minister's analysis of this report and the Secretary General's stated analysis of this report in this very room. There is a fissure, a fracture, between the highest paid and most powerful public servant in the Department of Health and the Minister. I believe it goes to the heart of the perennial question of who is actually in charge. That is a serious question because, unfortunately, many Ministers are passengers on their buses. When we allow this dissonance to happen between the most highly paid public servant in the Department of Health and the Minister, it underlines the question of who is in charge.

Obviously, Robert Watt has disagreed with the report but he has also disagreed with Deirdre Gillane. He seems to be at odds, etc. We have been told that a line has been drawn under it. We have dissonance and we have no accountability. Normally when somebody does something wrong within a Department, we need some level of accountability. Accountability is important because it is the only way to change behaviour. Without accountability, behaviour remains exactly the same. In this country, reports upon reports are written and they get dusty on shelves. We hear from Governments that there will be learnings. If we were in a drinking game based on the word "learnings", all of us would be in big trouble at the moment. What we really want is not just learnings; we want actual accountability on this. Will there be any accountability for the Secretary General in respect of his actions prior to this report being written and the dissonance that continues to exist between the Minister and him on the conclusions of the report?