Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of points which I will make quickly. I welcome Mr. O’Flynn. I support the comments made by Deputy Harris that we have often had situations in this committee where organisations and individuals who are under no obligation to be present as they are not members of public agencies, decline to attend even though it would greatly assist the work of the committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General. I greatly appreciate, as does the committee, Mr. O’Flynn’s contribution and co-operation with the Comptroller and Auditor General and others to try to get to the bottom of this issue, which he has accepted has been an unfortunate and sorry chapter in the union’s history.

I wish to put a couple of points to Mr. O’Flynn about the HSE. He referred previously to some tensions and we have seen documentary evidence to suggest that there was tension between the HSE and the union since the issue first emerged. Mr. O’Flynn stated in his contribution at the outset that the fund administrator was involved in the audit exercise with the HSE from approximately August 2009. Is that correct?