Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I wish Ms Jody Blake all the best in her retirement. The Cathaoirleach and Leader have highlighted what she has meant to this House and its Members over the years. I hear some of her utterances from time to time because I am seated very close to her. She has kept me in line on several occasions. My first proper dealing with Jody was in the aftermath of the trauma of being kicked out of government by colleagues opposite, when I had lost my seat in the other House. I had to sit through a Seanad count in the restaurant without having a clue how the whole thing worked. I could see Jody and Deirdre working away and putting the scores on the board and, in due course, I got a wink to say I would be all right. I was relived, but it may have been an unhappy outcome for some of my fellow Senators.

Jody has been brilliant to us on this side of the House and we really will miss her. She is irreplaceable. After 30 years in the Seanad, she definitely deserves a break to enjoy her life without having to worry about the House being recalled in the middle of August or sitting until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Her professionalism, courtesy and friendliness have always shone through in everything she did. She kept us on the straight and narrow and ensured we did our job efficiently, with a sense of humour and always knowing we could not overstep the line or we would get a slap from her. I hope she enjoys the next phase in her life, which I am sure will be not so much a retirement but rather a moving on to enjoy the next 30, 40 or 50 years. As my colleague, Senator Diarmuid Wilson remarked, Jody must have started in here when she was ten years old.

I welcome the allocation of time today to discuss the statutory instrument relating to building regulations. We have tabled several statutory instruments for debate in recent weeks. It is a useful exercise for the Seanad to tease these issues out, whether we agree or disagree on the specific issues. I thank the Leader very much for allowing an hour to debate this important statutory instrument.

I wish to express my grave disappointment and that of my colleagues in Fianna Fáil at the non-attendance at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts today of Ms Angela Kerins and Mr. Frank Flannery. Both of those individuals should know very well the importance of that committee as effectively the ranking committee in the Houses of the Oireachtas. It is the watchdog for the public in terms of how the moneys they contribute in taxes are spent. I encourage Mr. Flannery and Ms Kerins to attend a meeting of the committee at the earliest possible opportunity, where they can be assured of receiving a fair hearing. Mr. Flannery has stated his view that the committee is behaving in a partisan fashion in carrying out its functions and is going beyond its remit in this matter. He further stated that the committee is in "pursuit of a partisan political agenda designed to damage the Party I have been associated with". That is not the case at all, but it is very similar to what the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, said a few weeks ago when he tried to discredit the Committee of Public Accounts in regard to its efforts to have Mr. Flannery appear before it.

I remind colleagues that the Committee of Public Accounts has a majority of Government members and has been unanimous in its call for Mr. Flannery and Ms Kerins to give evidence. For Mr. Flannery to claim he is being brought before the committee in order effectively to damage the Fine Gael Party, in which he has been heavily involved for the past 30 years, is a spurious charge. He should reflect on his decision not to come before the committee to answer the very valid questions that committee members of all parties and none wish to put to him. It is a pity that neither Mr. Flannery nor Ms Kerins will take the opportunity today to answer those questions and put forward their own case. Will the Leader reaffirm that it is the Government's wish that Mr. Flannery and Ms Kerins appear before the Committee of Public Accounts to answer the questions the elected Members who make up that committee wish to put to them on behalf of the taxpayers of this country?