Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is beginning to seem that Mr. Kiely’s statement that there was a fee involved is not accurate. He should be given the opportunity to correct the record. This statement did damage to the Mater, the CRC and the fundraising activities of all charities. I take grave exception to someone throwing a comment such as this at this committee which caused much collateral damage. The record must be corrected. Mr. John Cregan, the current chief executive officer of the CRC, should make whatever arrangements necessary to ensure the record is corrected. These comments have affected the delivery of front-line services by many charitable organisations.

Two other people owe an apology and a correction: the directors who signed those accounts on behalf of the CRC who said that. We now know, and I have checked this with my colleague, Deputy Ross, that Mr. Hamilton Nugent and Mr. Jim Goulding as directors of the CRC have primary responsibility as to the accuracy of their accounts, and they need to correct that. Those accounts have been lodged with the Companies Registration Office and they are not accurate, from what we now hear. Their auditors, Ernst and Young, EY, owe us an apology. Mr. Paul Kiely, Mr. Nugent, Mr. Goulding and the auditors, EY, have all sent a lot of people on a merry dance and done a lot of collateral damage.

I am very hurt. From the very beginning when the issue of the section 38 top-ups broke weeks ago, my very first comment was that I was afraid this would damage the fundraising activities of charities, and it has. These remarks have added to that. On the radio this morning the Chairman said we need to restore public confidence in these organisations, and I agree with him. These matters must be sorted out, but I want corrections on the record from all those people I mentioned and an apology for any collateral damage they have caused.