The Government's decision to establish a high-level steering group, to review the control systems of the Department of Agriculture has been welcomed by Mr Pat Rabbitte.
He was also critical of claims that senior civil servants in the department were being treated unfairly before a Dail committee.
In one of his final statements as Democratic Left's spokesman for Finance, Mr Rabbitte said that it was regrettable development to see the Association of Higher Civil Servants being used to erect a smokescreen to divert the Dail's Public Accounts Committee from carrying out its statutory obligation to probe the lamentable performance of the Department of Agriculture over many years.
To suggest that the PAC would treat the Civil Service unfairly was "bunkum", he added.
The public should be aware that civil servants called to give evidence before the PAC were almost exclusively the secretaries-general of Departments in their capacities as accounting officers.
Given the role of the Dail and the statutory responsibility of the PAC, only the most grave circumstances would justify the AHCS threat either to "stop giving evidence" or, alternatively, to appear "accompanied by senior counsel", Mr Rabbitte stated.
