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

At the end of the day, we have a democracy. Directly elected Members of this House pass legislation and our fundamental and basic laws on an annual and sessional basis. The power lies in this House in terms of legislation and raising issues on a timely basis. With any funding initiatives and so on, the elected Government and the Oireachtas sanction the Estimates of various Departments.

Any individual proposals, and so on, have to go through the various procedures that are laid down. There is no escaping that at the end of the day. In respect of Oireachtas committees, my understanding is that the Minister has not refused to attend, and has made this clear in communications with the Chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. The Minister has said that an external review has been commissioned. From my perspective, it would seem logical that we allow the external review to conclude in a matter of weeks, which would then feed into any consideration by any Oireachtas committee. I think a number of Oireachtas committees - certainly two - have indicated an interest in the matter. It is something we need to resolve. I do not believe, as someone articulated yesterday, that the same people should go before three committees; namely, the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach; the Joint Committee on Health; and potentially the Committee of Public Accounts.

Certainly, there are issues here that need to be dealt with and addressed, including from a health research perspective. The secondment of the CMO was a proposal that did not go ahead in the end. As I have said repeatedly, it is regrettable that the entire situation happened in the manner that it did. There was some merit in the idea of building up capacity and pandemic preparedness into the future and learning lessons from our experience over the last two years in relation to the pandemic, which was a once-in-a-century event. As a country, we did relatively well compared to other countries in dealing with the pandemic and the crisis. All the people involved in that, in the public health arena and elsewhere, deserve credit for that. However, there has to be due process and procedure in relation to this issue. In my view, the sensible way to proceed is to allow the external review to conclude. It will not take too long. It is a matter for the House, ultimately. I am not dictating on it. It is then a matter for the committees to proceed with it. I think we might have a more comprehensive, informed position in relation to it if we allow the review to conclude. The Minister has made it clear to me that he has no issue in coming before a committee, but he believes that there is a sequencing that would make sense.

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