John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is within them.

Another issue I have concerning the inquiry is that while it is ongoing - it is not that I want to have a number of inquiries under way at the same time - this House should not be shut down because it is ongoing. Parliamentary questions and the work of committees should be allowed to continue. If material is uncovered by them that is relevant to the inquiry, by all means it can be taken by the inquiry. We need to get serious about our position and the fact that we represent the Irish people. That is what we are here for. We do not represent any single or powerful group. Furthermore, the civil servants work for this State.

Today we had the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, under the Minister, Deputy Howlin, reminding Secretaries General - accounting officers- that they should respond to queries they receive from the Committee of Public Accounts much earlier than they do. I would have thought it was a matter of fact that they should not ignore what was going on, that they should reply and that the Ministers, as the political leadership in the country through the Government, should insist that it happens, not only in this term but that it should be continued. We are only guardians of the democratic process in this House and we have let it down and we have let down the people, but the Ministers have let them down more than anybody else because they are the political leaders. They are the ones who promised the reform the people did not get. As we debate this motion, we cannot ignore the fact that people's lives have been torn asunder because of the economic crash and we have not allowed them to rebuild their lives in any meaningful way. They are watching this debate and watching others being able to put things together again and get back into business. It cannot be one rule for one class of people and another rule for another. That is what the Ministers have done in their term in government.

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