Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the consequences of the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality being the Accounting Officer is that he or she will hold the purse strings of the commission in the hands of the Department. I recall that when the HSE was being established the then Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, was very concerned at the Department of Finance's insistence that the Secretary General of that Department should be the Accounting Officer for the HSE. She was adamant at the time that the Accounting Officer should be the chief executive of the HSE and that the purse strings should not be held by the Department of Health and Children. What advantage is there in having section 21 and then providing that the Accounting Officer will be the head of the Department of Justice and Equality?