The Public Accounts Committee has been told it cannot release the salaries of senior managers at the Rehab Group.
Members have been given legal advice suggesting they have no right to release information which was submitted by Rehab in confidence.
They've also been told that the head of the HSE, Tony O'Brien, gave an incorrect account of the law when he said he had no option but to release the figures.
The committee's chairman John McGuinness says he's hoping Rehab will still agree to release the figures on a voluntary basis:
