Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is also reported - I think it is a fact - that there is a tape of the conversation, but I will move on.

Mr. Purcell said in his opening statement which was circulated to us in advance that he considered the Department had acted "in a reasonable manner" in dealing with the whistleblowers. How can he reconcile this with the Guerin report statement: "The deficiencies identified in the investigations considered in this review, if they were widely replicated, would be a challenge to public confidence in the criminal justice system itself"? He considers the Department acted reasonably, but he and Mr. Guerin are poles apart. Is this the Department circling the wagons? It is adopting a defence of the realm and now contesting the Guerin report. What Mr. Purcell maintains in his opening statement is at massive variance with the quotation taken from the report.