Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Like Deputy Connolly, I am very reluctant to say what I am about to say. The Peter McVerry Trust has done, and continues to do, huge amounts of good work, but there is no doubt that when an organisation is the subject of an inspection report, significant amounts of public controversy and, on top of that, the injection of €15 million of public money, there is an obligation on it to communicate that and to come before the Oireachtas. The correspondence the trust provided to us stated that its board appreciates the financial support and oversight arrangements, but the ultimate oversight arrangement in the Oireachtas is the Committee of Public Accounts. I do not believe the Peter McVerry Trust has assisted its own staff, the people who provide donations to it or the Members of this House by not turning up today. In my view, we should exhaust all possible options to have the Peter McVerry Trust before us. I hope we could write to the board today to encourage its representatives to come to a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts and to outline the options we have in regard to compellability and remit.

There is a difference between the trust's public comments on this matter and the letter. Its public comments indicate that it is waiting for the 2023 accounts, but its letter does not reference that in any way. I have to say I have grave difficulty with that. In public, it is alluding that it is willing to come before us but there is no mention of that in front of us. It is a very serious matter when an organisation does not come before the Committee of Public Accounts, whether it is under our direct remit or not. This concerns €50 million or more. We should get answers on it.