Mr. Tony O'Brien:

Let us go back. There is a difference between non-publication and staying on the shelf. This is important. There is a general view that somehow the report was suppressed. It was not published but it was provided to the Garda Síochana which to my mind does not equate to suppression. Deputy Kelly and I have just had a discussion on the sequence of events, what triggered the process by which I asked Mr. Healy to initiate contact between our solicitors and the Garda Síochana to seek its agreement to publication, agreement which at that time was not forthcoming in any event.

I would go back to what I said in the opening statement. It was primarily because the Resilience Ireland report was drawing near. We were also finding that in the absence of publication, there were a number of processes that we could not proceed with. That would include HR, as we discussed earlier. In particular, issues were arising in the political space where it would clearly be in the public interest for us to be able to provide those reports.

For that reason, we sought the agreement of AGS. There was much engagement over the course of that summer, including the provision by our solicitors of suggested redactions, to which An Garda Síochána did not agree at the time.