Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for withstanding the pressure. We felt pressure on this with the continuous leaks. The person who leaked did it deliberately and shamefully and if he or she is within this room, I hope he or she looks within himself or herself. I reiterate that we should have no more private meetings. We should take the power back to the committee.

Second, we have three third level institutions waiting for us. We have attended diligently, particularly the Chairman. I realise as Chairman of an Irish language committee it is not easy. There is additional pressure on him with constant correspondence from people. We have been flooded with e-mails even in respect of the universities about serious issues. People are calling themselves whistleblowers and so on. We are the last hope for them and it is extremely difficult. We are here now, we return for another meeting at 2.30 p.m. and we met yesterday.

The Chairman has gone through a number of issues.

The Minister had every opportunity last night to say the Chairman was not telling the truth or that he was wrong and he did not do so. In fact, he left the Chamber. I understand last night's debate was rearranged twice to facilitate the Minister being present. When it came up last night, he came in and left shortly after his contribution. He had an opportunity to contribute later and say that the Chairman was wrong about what he said and he did not take it. Therein lies an answer.

To think that the Chairman was told that NAMA had a dossier on him referring to all his previous criticisms is truly shocking. The fact that NAMA officials were speaking to him is in itself shocking because he is simply Chairman of the committee and we are all equal. If NAMA, the Minister or any senior official had anything to say, they should have written to us and the Chairman should then have highlighted the correspondence, as he always does. That was not done. If we focus on the politics, that ignores the most serious threat to democracy. From day one, I said the Comptroller and Auditor General's report was a rational, reasonable, mild report, which highlighted concerns about a sales process. NAMA went into full attack mode rather than asking what is in this. I believe it was not even read in total and they picked out a 10% or 5% discount rate and zoned in on that with tunnel vision as opposed to what the report was about, which was accountability and holding a system to account. NAMA officials could have come in and said, "We agree retrospectively. We should have followed up the conflict of interest but we were under enormous pressure." They did nothing like that and went on the attack over a small section.

The Minister did the exact same. There are 32 conclusions and, in the Dáil last night, he said we were "conjuring up criticism". He said that twice. I am delighted the Chairman has made up with the Minister because it is important to have cordial relations. However, men shaking hands - or as I used to refer to them on the city council, the boys in the short pants - is not good enough. It is good for them to do that and I am delighted for the Chairman but boys shaking hands does nothing for me and nothing for openness and accountability. These are serious issues. We need to deal with this serious threat to the committee and the democratic process.