Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 September 2025

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

2:00 am

Photo of Grace BolandGrace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chair. I flagged that I wanted the NTA to come in. We have dealt with that already.

It is important that we invite the DAA in. I know it is a commercial State body, but it is 100% State owned. With everything that has happened there in recent weeks, the committee has a duty to examine the settlement and whether it represents value for money and the code of practice has been applied. A €1 million settlement is setting an extraordinarily high precedent in terms of settlements by State entities. I would have serious concerns about that. We should seek to bring the DAA before the committee to speak to us about this, make sure any governance concerns are addressed and tease out a settlement of this value, which, in an employment law context in Ireland, is not the norm. It is far above the norm. We need to consider whether it is something a State entity should be entering into.