The Dáil’s spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is seeking to extend its powers after it ran into legal difficulties in compelling two former Rehab bosses to appear before its hearings.

Former Rehab bosses Frank Flannery and Angela Kerins have been given two weeks to provide details of their pension arrangements and other information on management of the disability charity to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee before it uses powers to compel them to come before a public grilling.

John McGuinness, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has insisted three issues central to the ongoing Rehab investigation can only be answered by the charity’s two former bosses.