John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The key thing is, and it is worth repeating, those individuals have made it clear, within their organisation and to others, that they were not aware they were meant to give an apology. They did not give an apology. They are now being misrepresented by the organisation for which they work. They have done that and have made it clear in writing to their bosses that they did not. It continues to be the case that the HSE is holding the line they did.

The issue for us and the Oireachtas needs to be who is going to protect their integrity. The organisation for which they work seems to believe it is a cheap commodity. That is the issue here. We are trying to figure out where it goes from here. The Chairman has spoken about bringing in the HSE. There are higher powers in government that need to take a look at this because it goes to the core of veracity within government.

Some people might say it is only a small thing or it was a misunderstanding. I think it is far bigger and weightier than that. It goes to the core of honesty and veracity in government and if one ignores that, what is the point?