David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the deputy First Minister to today's hearing. He will be aware that we have held many hearings and heard from many witnesses, including the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, the NAMA chairman, Mr. Frank Daly, Mr. Brian Rowntree, an external member of the NIAC, and officials from the Department of Finance. We are trying to establish the facts as the people who appear before us understand them. That is the context in which the questions are being put.

In his opening statement, Mr. McGuinness referred to a number of meetings and engagements of which he was not aware. He stated, "Since then, we have all become aware that a number of other meetings and engagements took place involving various combinations of the Minister, Deputy Noonan, Northern Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, Ministers and representatives of NAMA, Cerberus and PIMCO." He has clarified that all of those actors were not involved in all of those meetings, only in various combinations. He went on to offer a context, in that the relationships between himself and the former First Minister and between the DUP and Sinn Féin were fraught, tense and difficult for other reasons. Does Mr. McGuinness believe that this was why he was excluded from meetings and why the DUP kept this issue close to its chest? Has he given any other consideration as to why he was excluded?