Chief whip accused of interference by PAC

The Government’s chief whip has admitted his office contacted the Dáil’s spending watchdog to find out in advance what it wanted to ask health officials at a meeting this week.

It comes amid accusations by the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness, of attempted interference with its work.

Paul Kehoe, the chief whip, confirmed he had a member of his office contact the PAC in advance “looking for the remit of the committee and the exact content of what they were going to be discussing”.

The Fine Gael junior minister said he did not regard it as an issue, saying it was his job as chief whip to work with departments and oversee committees. He refused to state, however, whether his office had been asked by the Department of Health to contact the PAC.

“I have daily conversations with all departments, and I work very closely with them, but I’m not going to divulge what sequence of events got me to do that,” said Mr Kehoe.

“But it’s my job as government chief whip... to be working with government departments and ministers and to be overlooking what is happening at committees.”

A furious row erupted at the PAC on Tuesday when HSE head Tony O’Brien and Department of Health secretary general Ambrose McLoughlin refused to spell out exactly how the HSE’s budget would be balanced by year’s end.

The PAC traditionally examines historic, rather than current, spending by departments, and both men expressed concern in their opening statements at the prospect of being quizzed on this year’s expenditure.

They also said they could not comment on policy issues, which are outside the PAC’s terms of reference.

After an initial stand-off, which saw one Fianna Fáil TD walk out in protest, the meeting resumed and the officials answered questions they felt were within the PAC’s remit.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, PAC chairman Mr McGuinness said he was concerned about events in the run-up to the meeting.

He said unnamed health officials had tried in advance to limit what could be discussed. This was “nothing short of interference with the committee” and he would be investigating the issue in order to protect the PAC’s integrity.

Mr McGuinness did not mention the chief whip in the radio interview but had briefly referred to him at the meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Kehoe confirmed there had been contact between his office and the PAC, but said he would have expected such communications to have “remained confidential”.

While the PAC had a very important job to do, it was not within its remit to examine current expenditure, he said.