Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 16, to delete lines 27 to 30.

This amendment proposes to delete section 10 of the Bill which states:

Section 47 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by deleting subsection (2), and

(b) in subsection (3) by deleting "or the chairperson of the Board, as the case may be, ".

Subsection (2) of section 47 of the principal Act, the Dormant Accounts Act 2001, reads: "Whenever required by the Committee of Public Accounts, the chairperson of the Board shall give evidence to that Committee on any matter relating to the functions of this Board under this Act." Subsection (3) states: "When performing duties under this section, the Chief Executive of the Agency or the chairperson of the Board, as the case may be, shall not question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy." It is clear that if the chairman of the board cannot be summoned before the Committee of Public Accounts, the issue of expressing an opinion on the merits of any Government policy or the merits of the objectives of such a policy does not arise.

I listened carefully to the Minister's arguments in support of this section. For me it boils down to the fact this is the chairperson of a board which, at the time of the Second Stage debate, had €200 million to disburse. I am sure we would all agree that is not an insubstantial amount of money. The Minister wants to amend the legislation so that the chairperson of that board cannot be requested to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts, although the chief executive can be. When the board had a wider function, the chairperson could be summoned to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts under the principal Act. However, the board will now have a reduced function and the chairperson will be released from the obligation to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts.

The Minister advanced arguments in regard to who the Accounting Officer is and so on. However, if one looks at this objectively, it appears that the Minister is protecting the chairperson of a State board which is responsible for a fund of €200 million and that he wants us to legislate so that this person cannot be summoned before the Committee of Public Accounts. I listened to the Minister's arguments carefully and I am happy to do so again today. Reasonable members of the public will read that the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has decided that the chairperson of a State board, which is responsible for a fund of €200 million, does not have to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts.

I present a simple argument which I have repeated a number of times because it must be stressed. The arguments put forward are fine but is this the case with the chairperson of any other State board? Does this exemption apply only to this board? I await the Minister's explanation.

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