The Dáil Public Accounts Committee last night dismissed a challenge to its right to examine the pay and pensions of former Rehab directors Angela Kerins and Frank Flannery.

Ms Kerins and Mr Flannery each told the committee yesterday that they will not go to its hearing today on Rehab’s affairs, the second in less than two months.

The committee last night also described the reasons given by Mr Flannery’s solicitors for his non-attendance as “nothing short of contemptible”.

While Rehab chairman Brian Kerr and four other senior figures will attend today, Ms Kerins and Mr Flannery have made it clear to Rehab that they should not disclose anything linked to pensions, salary, bonuses and severance pay.

The PAC held an emergency meeting last night to discuss separate correspondence from Ms Kerins and Mr Flannery. It wrote immediately afterwards to Mr Flannery’s solicitors to challenge the reasons he gave for not attending.

Accusations
"Your client has made a number of very serious and utterly unmeritorious accusations against the Committee of Public Accounts and its members thereof which are denied in full," said the letter to Mr Flannery's solicitors from committee clerk Ted McEnery.

A separate letter from Mr McEnery to Ms Kerins’ solicitors dismissed her complaint about questioning at a seven-hour hearing in February on matters which she said were not notified to her.

Solicitors for Ms Kerins, who resigned last week, told the PAC she was unable to appear today due to ill-health and on medical advice and also said her indication to the PAC that her pay was not cut this year was wrong, this was “inadvertent”.

Mr Flannery resigned his Rehab directorhip and post in Fine Gael last month.

“I wish to restate my willingness to attend the PAC and to assist that important body with its enquiries where possible but regret that the agenda as set out has left me with no alternative but to decline the current invitation,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He also said some PAC members did not seem to be taking the basic rights of private citizens into account .