Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. The Deputy's argument appears to be that he did not break any rules and we were in different times. Nobody has publicly contradicted him in that regard. The Deputy mentioned on numerous occasions this morning that this happened six years ago. The difficulty I have is that Deputy McGuinness, as Chairman of this committee, would not accept that from another witness such as, for example, Mr. Rody Molloy, former CEO of FÁS, a man whom Deputy McGuinness has commented on publicly on a number of occasions and about whom he wrote in his book, The House Always Wins. The following is a direct quote from that book:

The following day, seemingly oblivious to the growing public anger about the revelations, Rody Molloy, speaking on "Today with Pat Kenny" on RTE radio defended his practice of exchanging one first-class airline for two business-class tickets so that his wife could travel with him. In fact, he claimed he was "entitled" to do so.

Mr. Rody Molloy broke no rules, rather he operated within the guidelines. However, Deputy McGuinness arrived at the considered position, as did the then Committee of Public Accounts, that FÁS should not have paid for those tickets. How does the Deputy tally those two views? The Deputy believes he did everything right and that all this happened in a different time when the country was not in an economic mess. The key issue is why that is acceptable for him given the level of scrutiny he applies to others who appear before this committee.