David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A copy of the report was not circulated to members in advance. When Mr. Ó Cualáin appeared before the committee previously, I asked him about that and he said that it was his understanding that the comprehensive briefing was given at the September internal audit committee meeting. That was his view of the minutes. He was not at the meeting but that was his view. Mr. Howard, who was subsequently before the committee said:

There was a very busy agenda that day and at the end of the meeting, this was raised verbally as an AOB item. There was no briefing given to us. I have reflected on how I will phrase this. Neither I nor any of the other outside members of the committee took from that briefing any sense of importance of this issue as it subsequently emerged. Ultimately, this issue was so serious that the Accounting Officer had to amend a statement of internal financial control. I do not believe that has happened before on the Garda Vote so, objectively speaking, this was a very serious issue. It was raised, we discussed it a bit and we were asked if we would include it in the 2016 programme of work, which was done. That was Mr. Kelly's report at this time but no indication was given to us that this was different.

He went to say that he got no understanding of the seriousness of the issues.

That does not chime with Mr. Ó Cualáin's reading of the minutes, or does it? I refer to Mr. Howard's statement to the committee.