Mr. Brian Purcell:

As I said already, I found that what was being reported as the contents of the transcript - bearing in mind that my recollection is that it was not a taping or a transcript of anything the Minister said - was a taping of something that someone claimed the Minister had said. I spoke to the former Minister about it, and he told me that under no circumstances would he ever have made comments like that. I said already that, knowing the Minister as I did, there is no way, in my view, that he would have made the comments attributed to him.

There was no way the description being put forward in my mind represented anything the Minister might have said. The only precise thing I can remember from it is one of the quotes,"If he thinks you're doing that, you're finished," or something like it. There is no way he would have said anything like this and that is what I found very strange about it. I thought it was very strange; I could not see how that would have been the case.