John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two sides to the issue. I am not disagreeing with what the Chairman said, but I have referred to this committee as the epicentre of parliamentary hyperbole. I am not referring to the Chairman in that regard, but on occasion the committee acts in the way I have described. Sometimes members let outrage flutter around the room like confetti. It is the case that they make a meal of some witnesses from some Departments and of issues raised here. In the past four years I have seen this trend among certain members. While I take the Chairman's point on the expenditure of billions of euro, at the same time we need to face up to the fact that it is sometimes dealt with by some members as a form of theatre. It is done for publicity reasons, not really for substantive reasons on occasion. We have to face up to that fact, too, and it needs to be mentioned, as it is a fair point.