Mr. Rob Morrison:

Cathal Mac Coille, acceptably to me, said three times, "This is a very serious matter. What have you left out?" I regarded that as a serious issue.

The BAI knew instantly there was a problem with its statement. It could have clarified it. As Senator Whelan said, this is about timing. The BAI did nothing to clarify its statement or to retract what most people saw as a fairly defamatory statement.

The BAI prepared an advisory note for any journalist who rang to check its position, which is unusual in my experience. To my knowledge, no journalist, other than an RTE journalist, did so. The statement was prepared to be used in reply to inquiries. The last sentence of the note read, "The BAI has cast no question over those who prepared the report and associated working document.". That note has never been made public. I called on the BAI to clarify its position and retract its insinuation. I would have liked some kind of apology because we were put through 24 hours of very difficult cross-examination, quite rightly, by the press. On that Friday morning, every newspaper in Ireland carried it as a front page story, with the insinuation that we had covered something up. It was at that stage that I asked for legal advice, and got it, and submitted a letter to the BAI asking for clarification and a retraction. That is where things stand. The BAI has not clarified or retracted.