Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the director general's contract of employment, his contract allows him to serve on boards if there is no conflict of interest, and with ministerial consent. There is no conflict of interest with this appointment as the company does not have a relationship with the HSE and it does not trade in Ireland. Also, the Minister in approving it was aware that Mr. O'Brien was coming to the end of his term of office, which ends in 12 weeks' time. It is on that basis that the Minister approved it. I have no reason to question the validity of that decision. The work he is doing for that company, I am told, is five hours per month and this will be done in his own time and any board meetings he will be on annual leave.

On the drip, drip of information, I appreciate what the Deputy says. I do not want to be in a situation whereby my Ministers and I do not have all of the information to hand. We working as hard as we can on this matter. The Government has been focused in the last number of days on getting all of the information together so that we can make the right decisions.

When I referred to "haste", I was referring to something different. I was referring to something which I think we should not do as a House, or as a Government, which is to make decisions without having all the information. I would ask the House for some calm and the time and space to establish all of the facts in order that we can take charge of this situation. I have listed a number of actions that we are taking.

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