David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We put an awful lot of personal work into this matter and not for personal gain. We just did our job, without fear or favour. We have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the Committee of Public Accounts. As I said yesterday and will say again, I was not a member of the previous Committee of Public Accounts. There seems to be a particular political slant on this committee during this term that was not evident in the past. That is deeply unfortunate because it is undermining the committee. That situation manifested itself on the floor of the Dáil Chamber yesterday. There were slurs made against my party, and against me personally, by the Minister. He did so simply because he was upset or annoyed about two words that were used in the report. If anything, we could have gone much further in our criticisms. Our report was very fair and we need to respond. I agree with Deputy McDonald that we cannot leave this matter at that. It would be completely unacceptable on our part. We have a responsibility to protect our integrity and that of the role of the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts. We should do so by asking the Minister for an apology. He should have the good grace to make an apology.