Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not necessarily sure it is appropriate for this committee to hold its own Chairman to account for something that happened in his Department but I went along with it because it was a question other people wanted. The first session of this committee hearing was useful and the Chairman answered all questions well. There is an issue about London that people want clarity on. No law or guideline was broken. Nothing was done that people could have a judgment on. The Chairman did nothing that was illegal and broke no rules and I see nothing, therefore, that would require him to vacate the Chair of the PAC. As I have said, I always thought he was a strong and independent Chairman.

What happened in the second session was a farce where we have gone into conjecture, nonsense and rubbish talking about conspiracies and all kinds of stuff. The journalist who wrote the articles said explicitly in one of his articles that there are no conspiracies, that he is not involved in perpetuating any conspiracies, that they are simply facts that exist. I have never been contacted or impugned in my work by any Minister, Government Member or member of my party to do anything to frustrate the work of this committee. Now the headline will be, "Allegation: Government trying to scupper work of PAC" when I have never come across any of that in any of my dealings, and I have been on this committee since day 1. That needs to go out there.

This conjecture, allegations and mud-throwing, which the Chairman has been subjected to in other arenas, has undermined this session. I thought we were getting out of it. By engaging in it the way he has done, Deputy McGuinness has created a greater problem for himself. His judgment on whether he should have gone there at this point has to be questioned. I had no question whatsoever in my head whether he was unsuitable until now and what this has turned into. If we are talking about protecting the credibility and reputation of this committee, it has certainly been damaged by this farce of the second half of the session.