Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I know. That is why I am making a distinction because I do not believe it should be "also" and that the audit committee should report directly to the chairman as well. In trying to explain that, I pointed out that essential distinction. The role of the Secretary General is to account for moneys and to ensure they are appropriately spent. That is not the role of the chairman of the commission.

The primary role of the chairman of the commission is the orderly functioning of the committee, carrying out ceremonial duties and ensuring the aims and objectives of the commission are adhered to at all times. He or she is not the Accounting Officer and does not account for the money per se. Therefore, for the audit committee to report to him or her would be unnecessary.

In a sense the audit committee reports to the chairman because it reports to the commission in its annual reports. However, if it was to take on the role of advising the chairman of the commission, to which I believe Senator O'Toole is coming, or if it was obliged to do so under the legislation, it would put the chairman in a completely different situation from the role given under the legislation. He or she would be advised as to the proper accounting and expenditure of moneys under the control of the commission. However, that is not his or her function but the function of the Secretary General. For those reasons, we must draw a very clear distinction.

There is no reason the audit committee cannot retain professional services, whether consultants or otherwise. There is no need to empower it in that regard. It is envisaged that the outside members of the commission, the people with much expertise and of high professional standing, would be the best people to advise the committee. We can deal with these issues in greater detail on Committee Stage.

I have dealt with Senator Alex White's issues concerning the functions of the commission under section 4. In terms of accountability, he raised the point about whether the commission should be, in some way, accountable to the Dáil, perhaps through an Oireachtas committee. The commission is accountable to the Dáil through the parties represented on it. It is the function of representatives to account to their respective parties or the Minister for Finance, while at the same time acting collectively in the best interest of the Houses of the Oireachtas.