Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The amendment involves moving the reference to the Committee of Public Accounts from lines 27 and 30 to lines 1 and 2. Regardless of the reporting responsibilities to the Committee of Public Accounts, will the Department and the Minister take due cognisance of the committee's findings as and when it reports on matters regarding the Department? Yesterday the committee released a report on over-expenditure incurred on behalf of the Department, and work undertaken on its behalf by the Office of Public Works.

The Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, argued against the right of the Committee of Public Accounts to make those findings. It is somewhat irrelevant, within the deluge of irrelevancies which will continue for the next few days, that the Minister should introduce an amendment of this nature. The Minister's behaviour has shown us how he treats the institutions of this House.

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