Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To take the last point first, it is not my intention that anybody who is legitimately doing very good work on behalf of the arts community across the country should suffer. That is not my concern here at all. My concern is the same as the Deputy's concern, that is, that if there is voted expenditure from the Oireachtas to Government Departments, it must be for the purpose that it is for. I will also say - I said this in the course of an interview - that the Minister for Health does not know, nor should she know, nor could she know, how many thermometers are in University Hospital Waterford and how much they cost. We have civil and public servants within the Department and within different agencies to make sure that the moneys that are spent on our behalf as Members of Dáil Éireann are spent appropriately. The first thing I have to find out here is who knew what when, to bring that information before the Dáil and to make the necessary changes in terms of governance and oversight from within my own Department, but as well as that, within the Department's relationship with the bodies concerned. We will do that, and if people have any suggestions, I am all ears and I will not rule anything out.

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