Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Graham for that. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Members of the Oireachtas are asking questions, naturally enough, because that is their job. A number of these questions were asked of the Minister and found their way to Ms Tallon’s Department. The answers that come back are in the category of non-answers. The Department knows the Oireachtas has an appetite for establishing what is going on. The Department has its own procedures in place and is tracking things, in a manner of speaking. The most astounding thing is that the Minister knew nothing at all about this. In March 2013, whether the Department believed the figure was a ceiling or otherwise, it knew that the figure was somewhere in the region of €50 million. The Minister knew nothing about that. It is now January 2014 and it seems the Minister had to hear the figure on RTE courtesy of Sean O’Rourke. Could Ms Tallon explain to me how her Minister knew nothing about this?