I welcome the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Purcell. Before the committee goes into private session, I remind members that this meeting is the last at which the outgoing clerk, Mr. Brian Hickey, will be present. I welcome the incoming clerk, Mr. Ted McEnery. I propose to make a presentation to Mr. Hickey as a small token of our appreciation of the work he has done in the three years he has spent working with the Committee of Public Accounts. In his efficient and unassuming way, he has been of great assistance to me and the other members of the current committee since it first met last year. I had the great pleasure of working with him on the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government of the previous Dáil when he showed his professionalism and patience in dealing with errant Members of the Oireachtas. I hope that in the years to come this small token of the committee's gratitude will bring back positive memories of his time here. We did not want to go overboard in choosing the gift in case he would have to declare it and we would have to account for over-expenditure. It is a small Waterford Crystal globe.
Business of Committee.
Good man — only the good stuff.
In the next few months, when Mr. Hickey is working in the Bills Office, he will be able to look at the globe and see the various places to which the members of the committee will be travelling. He will be able to see where we are when we go to Cape Town and Cardiff, for example. On a serious note, the Committee of Public Accounts assures him that it appreciates the work he has done. I hope he will have every success and happiness during the rest of his career in the Oireachtas.
Clerk to the Committee
I will keep my comments brief because I believe civil servants should be treated like children in years gone by — seen and not heard. I thank the Committee of Public Accounts for this gesture. It is nice to be appreciated. I am glad that the Chairman referred to the gift as a "globe" rather than as a symbol of something I might have done during my time working with the committee.
Mr. John Purcell
I share Mr. Hickey's tenet that civil servants should be seen and not heard. In my work with the Committee of Public Accounts it has been important for me to work with a good clerk and a good secretariat in general. It has been an absolute pleasure to deal with Mr. Hickey. When I accompanied the committee abroad, I found him to be a marvellous travelling companion. I will not say anything further about foreign travel because I have taken a vow of omerta in that respect. I will miss Mr. Hickey, as it has been a pleasure for me to work with him. His efforts have helped the work of the committee in the last few years. To Mr. Hickey I say “onwards and upwards”.
We will be watching his progress.
Clerk to the Committee
I thank the committee.
The committee went into private session at 10.10 a.m. and resumed in public session at 10.30 a.m.
Mr. J. Purcell (An tArd Reachtaire Cuntas agus Ciste) called and examined.