John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask Mr. O'Flynn to understand the frustration of members and the disbelief over the fact that some of these activities could have taken place without anybody knowing about them. I am taken aback by the fact that someone who was employed at a high level within the union does not co-operate in terms of the report. It forces Mr. O'Flynn's union – the cost is borne by its members through membership fees – to pay €78,000 just to get sight of a document. The individual should actually be assisting Mr. O'Flynn to clear his name. I am not casting any doubt on Mr. O'Flynn's good name in saying that. The individual concerned does not understand the gravity of the whole matter.

Mr. O'Flynn says the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General took over responsibility for the report. In actual fact, this committee asked the Comptroller and Auditor General whether he would intervene because we could not achieve a resolution between SIPTU, the HSE and this committee in terms of its role. At this stage, Mr. Merrigan does not understand the significance or gravity of the matter, or that all we are trying to do in our business is establish the overall narrative that fills in the gaps and outlines to people exactly what happened.