Sinn Féin's Mairéad Farrell appointed new chair of PAC

Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell is the new chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Dáil's financial watchdog.

It follows a report from the Oireachtas Selection Committee being accepted by the Dáil without a vote being called.

She replaces Brian Stanley as chair, after he resigned from Sinn Féin.

Mr Stanley's place on PAC has been taken by senior Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy.

Members of Fine Gael had been warning they may call a vote on Ms Farrell’s appointment, as Sinn Féin needed to provide more information about recent controversies within the party.

In the event, that did not happen .

Ms Farrell told RTÉ's Drivetime that PAC needed to continue to hold public bodies and departments to account. "What I attend to do is... in whatever time I have is to do just that," she said.

She said that ministers must hold departments to account.

"If I feel as PAC chair that that isn’t happening well, I will certainly be writing to those ministers," she added.

Fianna Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers told the same programme that it was an established precedence that the main opposition party chairs PAC, and that should be respected.

However, she added: "That doesn't mean that I don’t believe there are still questions to be answered by Sinn Féin around the controversies."