John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

This is now a standard provision that appears in many other pieces of legislation. It only refers to the director of an institute appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts. A director appears before the Committee of Public Accounts to be accountable for the finances of his or her institute. In that context directors cannot make excuses by saying, for example, that Government policy prevented them from spending more money. They can, however, say so much outside the door of the Committee of Public Accounts, to the media and in many other fora. It is only in so far as they are accountable for the expenditure in their colleges that they will not be allowed to criticise Government or ministerial policy in the Committee of Public Accounts. They can say they were or were not able to take a particular action as a result of Government policy but they cannot comment on whether the policy is good or bad. It allows them to say they did not go ahead with a particular building because of Government policy but they cannot go on to say the policy itself is detrimental. They can give facts but, when they are before the Committee of Public Accounts, they cannot give a commentary.

Examples of similar legislation for other bodies include the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003 and the National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003. Outside the Houses those bodies have been vocal in their criticism of Government policy but they cannot be so before the Committee of Public Accounts.