Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his view that Mr. Flannery should go before the Committee of Public Accounts. I agree with him on that. I am somewhat curious that he did not respond to my question concerning the appropriateness or correctness of charitable organisations, Rehab in particular, that provide services for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, and which have large service contracts with the State for the provision of such services, paying their directors to organise meetings with Ministers and Government officials on behalf of such organisations. It is wrong. They should not be paying their directors money and no one should do so in that situation. We are not talking about private companies or anybody else. We are talking about people who have daily meetings with the State about the services they provide.

It is extraordinary that someone with the unrivalled access to power that Mr. Flannery had - and probably still has - should be paid. It has not been denied and there has been no clarification or rebuttal of that report in The Irish Times. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, said he would regularly be met on the Tuesday mornings of Cabinet meetings.

Apart altogether from the Bill to establish a register of lobbyists, it should be clearly stated that organisations like that, which deal with the Government regularly - be they the Brothers of Charity, Enable Ireland or Rehab - should not be paying people to meet Government Ministers.

Our system is accessible and I am not casting aspersions on Ministers about meeting Rehab or organisations like that. The State pays out €80 million for the services provided by Rehab, so the meetings are quite regular in terms of those service contracts. Does the Tánaiste accept there is no basis, foundation or rationale for any organisation to pay large fees to its own directors with a view to organising meetings with Ministers or officials?

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