Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With the greatest of respect for both of the witnesses, whom I thank for attending today and for their public service, I put it to them that in this case they oversaw a €1.1 billion payment to facilitate voluntary redundancies for staff who, had the State not intervened, would not have been afforded voluntary redundancy and that that was a bad call and a bad use of public money. I believe it would have been acceptable to let go those people and for them not to have been paid voluntary redundancy packages by the people of Ireland because, had they not stepped in, those staff would not have got any packages. I say that with great respect for the witnesses. However, I believe the call made in this case was a bad one.