Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While the correspondence received is detailed, it probably asks more questions than it answers. For instance, it cost €1,500 a day for the two investigators. I doubt Sherlock Holmes would have cost that much. There is no conclusion in sight and the review could continue like a runaway train. The last point was that there was an argument between the investigators that required further legal action between the two of them before the report could be published. That was also an extra cost on the taxpayer.

I know officials from the Department of Education and Skills will appear before the committee this morning, but I am not sure we will be able to cover this. The report received back poses many more questions than it answers. They would probably want to come in to explain it again and to give some detail. How did they come up with the €1,500? Why there was no interim report? Why was there no deadline? At the very end it states that the college's procedures for dealing with plagiarism were fit for purpose. It cost us €436,000 to find that out. So many more questions need to be asked about this.