Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not think this committee needs a civil servant to come in here to tell us that. We knew that and I do not think this committee needs a civil servant sitting in the Gallery, watching what we are doing either. I do not understand why he is there or what he is doing there. If ever there was a waste of public money, it is having a civil servant sitting in the Gallery here, watching what we are actually doing. If that is meant to intimidate us, it does not do so. That, added to what the Chairman said already about the purported interference by the Minister for Finance and the fact that we got a letter last week, of which the public may not be aware, warning us that the clerk to this committee is not allowed to speak in public and is, in fact, being muzzled makes me very suspicious that the work of this committee is being frustrated and affected in a way that is detrimental to freedom of speech and transparency. The committee's work is being hindered by hidden hands outside this room.