asked the Minister for Finance whether the Committee on Government expenditure was ever fully constituted; who are the members; how many of them are civil servants, and as such what salaries are they in receipt of; whether the Committee has held any sittings; and when may a report be expected.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE.
The constitution of the Committee was announced on 20th May last, the names of the members being as follows:—
Mr. Diarmuid O'Hegarty, Secretary of the Executive Council;
Mr. J.J. McElligott, Secretary of the Department of Finance;
Mr. Henry O'Friel, Secretary of the Department of Justice; and
Mr. James J. Healy, a Commissioner of Public Works.
These members are permanent civil servants, and their salaries are as follows:—
|
Mr. O'Hegarty |
£1,200 per annum. |
|
Mr. McElligott |
£1,500,,,, |
|
Mr. O'Friel |
£1,200,,,, |
|
Mr. Healy |
£1,100,,,, |
with the appropriate cost of living bonus in each case.
It was intended that the personnel of the Committee should include a Minister to act as chairman. In consequence of the General Election of June, and the events which followed, it has not been possible, up to the present, to fill the position of chairman, but Mr. Heffernan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, will, it has now been arranged, act as Chairman of the Committee.
For the reasons indicated it has not been possible to hold more than two meetings of the Committee. A considerable amount of information required by the Committee for the purpose of their investigations has been obtained from the various Departments, but it is not possible at this juncture to state when the Committee will be in a position to present a report.
Is the Minister quite satisfied that Deputy Heffernan is a fit and capable person to fill the important post of Chairman of this Committee? Is the Minister aware that Deputy Heffernan on two occasions within the last six months expressed the view that highly paid civil servants were not qualified to act on such a Committee which should be drawn from outside experts? Are we to understand that Deputy Heffernan has now changed that view?
The Deputy is asking a great many questions. I think Deputy Heffernan is a fit and proper person to act as Chairman of such a Committee and I am sure when he himself is there to see the work being done he will have less suspicion of the civil servants.
Considering that the greater proportion of the members are highly paid civil servants, is not this a case of asking the sheep to shear themselves?