Finance committee seeks power to compel witnesses after Watt said he won’t appear

about 2 years in The Irish Times

The Oireachtas finance committee is to seek power to compel witnesses after Robert Watt, the top civil servant in the Department of Health, indicated he would not appear before it.
The committee is seeking that Mr Watt appear in relation to the appointment of Dr Tony Holohan to a secondment position in Trinity College Dublin. Mr Watt has indicated he will appear at the health, rather than the finance committee - most recently in correspondence sent to the finance committee on Tuesday evening.
At a private meeting of the committee this morning, Sinn Féin’s finance and public expenditure spokespersons sought powers to compel witnesses..
The finance committee agreed to write to the committee on parliamentary privileges and oversight seeking the power to send persons and records. There is a high bar for compellability, a power which the finance committee doesn’t have but can request.
It has to be agreed by the Dáil and Seanad, which could prove politically uncomfortable for the Government.
It then has to put another request to compel someone for a specific occasion. In a letter sent by Pearse Doherty and Mairead Farrell to committee chair John McGuinness this morning, they wrote that they felt “left with no alternative but to seek to have greater powers of compellability”.
Scrutinising role
They said the “time has now come for this committee to reassert itself, to reclaim the vital scrutinising role it was given, and its responsibility for bringing accountability among senior positions in the public service”.
In a letter to the committee on Tuesday evening, Mr Watt has said it is not in the public interest for him to attend two DáilOireachtas committees examining the appointment.
Mr Watt also appealed for committees to carry out their business “without unnecessary and distracting personal commentary”. He wrote that as a civil servant he takes his accountability responsibilities “very seriously” and has attended many sessions of Oireachtas committees.
“I have answered questions on these matters at the health committee and I do not believe it is reasonable for me to be asked to attend a different sectoral Committee to answer questions on the same issue,” he wrote. He said it has been the practice for “some time now” that one committee should look at a particular issue “rather than duplicate examinations of issue”.
“I’m sure you would agree this is neither in the public interest, nor is it an efficient use of members or public servants’ time,” he wrote. The political row over the appearance showed no sign of abating on Wednesday, with Mr McGuinness saying the Taoiseach had put a “misleading commentary” before the Dáil when he said there was an element of a witch hunt to how the issue was being pursued.
He said there had been a “determined effort by Government” to cloud the issues surrounding the appointment using smoke and mirrors, obfuscation and spin, and that his job as chair of the committee is being made “seriously difficult” by Government ministers, the Taoiseach and senior civil servants.
The committee heard testimony on the appointment from Martin Fraser, the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach. Mr Fraser told the committee that he first discussed the potential move by Dr Holohan to the university sector at a meeting in August of 2021, at which point it was a “far more generic proposal” than that which eventually proved so controversial.
There has been criticism of a decision by Mr Donnelly not to attend the finance committee, and to say his officials will also not attend.
He said it has been the practice for “some time now” that one committee should look at a particular issue “rather than duplicate examinations of issue”.
“I’m sure you would agree this is neither in the public interest, nor is it an efficient use of members or public servants’ time,” he wrote, advising that the Houses of Oireachtas should adjudicate if there is a dispute between committees over who pursues a topic.
“Whatever different views may exist, I hope that we can carry out our respective duties in a respectful and courteous manner. In this matter I have acted in good faith and would appeal to all concerned in the betterment of the public interest to address the issues that arise in a professional, factual and policy focused manner, without unnecessary and distracting personal commentary.”
Mr Watt also sent his report into the appointment of Dr Holohan, and a letter to TCD provost Dr Linda Doyle concerning the matter.

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