Mr. Barry O'Brien:

I have a responsibility as a public servant to bring facts before the committee, not supposition. Mr. Kiely made the extraordinary claim. He did so in a direct response to Deputy Ross. He said he had been attempting to cease the practice for years. However, he must have been fully aware that 180 people who he, as the chief executive, employed were in the VHSS and that there was an agreement with the Department on how their contribution would be managed. For me to make a comment in the heat of that moment, when every member of the committee said it was extraordinary and made reference to the potential of a phantom fund and commented that a major issue had been uncovered, would have been completely inappropriate.