Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I support arguments put forward by previous speakers. As a former Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, I am aware that one sometimes had to bite one's lip when querying the exactness of statements made by secretaries general who appeared before the committee. Constraints are often placed on a line of questioning at meetings of the Committee of Public Accounts and I understand the need for these in the case of the secretaries general of particular Government Departments.

As the Minister stated, the Digital Hub Development Agency will be expected, from the end of the year, to have a commercial mandate with no State subvention. The agency needed a State subvention during its gestation period to allow it to commence operations. However, the Minster now expects it to behave, to be commercially responsible and to try make progress in terms of funding its operations.

The chief executive may attend the committee to which he is answerable. He might find that the barriers and impediments which prevent him from making the company a commercial entity are retained because of policy or directives. In the context of a digital hub, which the preliminary literature claims will be exciting, this is a throw-back to a previous era when Big Brother was watching. I do not believe this provision is compatible with what we are trying to create in terms of the digital hub. It is extremely regressive in nature and should be removed from the legislation.