Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I began examining this issue, as Ms McGuinness will be aware, it did not take me more than 20 minutes to find out about the Friends and Supporters of the CRC and it did not take me more than ten seconds to see that they had €14 million on hand. I cannot understand why the HSE did not know about this or did not ask about this and when the CRC was requesting funding, presumably by filing in a form or matching criteria every year, why the HSE did not ask what other funds the organisation had elsewhere before making a decision. Mr. Cregan's finding was specific that the purpose of the Friends and Supporters of the CRC was to maximise what they got out of the HSE. In other words, it was to hide money in order that the CRC could request more money from the executive. Is it not correct that the HSE should have been able to say, "No, you have money elsewhere"?