Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Committee of Public Accounts is not an appointing body for persons such as this. The Deputy will be aware that Secretaries General are the Accounting Officers for Departments and appear on a regular basis before Oireachtas committees. When the TLAC process has been concluded and a person has been nominated, I, and I am sure the person who will be successful, will have no difficulty with him or her appearing before a committee to discuss his or her credentials for this particular job.

I believe that this is, as the Deputy correctly points out, an important position for the future. The person appointed will be heading up the Department of Finance at a time when Ireland is at a crossroads in terms of economic challenges, which requires that he or she be of outstanding quality. It is hoped that following completion of the process, including international advertising and structured interviews, the person appointed will have no difficulty attending at any committee to discuss the work of the Department of Finance and his or her credentials for the job, which will be necessary for the country anyway.

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