Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is quite right that the 12 week period became nine months, but there was a reason for it. Part of it was the reluctance of people to appear and part of it was the fact that there were difficulties which had not been anticipated. It did go on too long and it was a pity that it went on for as long as it did. We received frequent requests from the judge for an extension, which was irritating because we wanted an early result. However, as we did get an absolutely excellent result in the end, it was worth the time. We have rehearsed the issue of only one out of six being engaged. We know how many gave evidence and the value of that evidence. The Deputy is repeating what others are saying when she says there is very little new information in the report. There is very new, good, valuable stuff in it, which is why we are where we are now. The report has exposed stuff which neither the Deputy nor I knew this time last year, about which there is no doubt. Had the Deputy read the emails? She had not. Did she know that it was certain that Pro10 was a front? She did not; nor did I. We might have suspected it, but the report confirms it. There is new stuff in it. There is new, concrete evidence which gives us a firm basis on which to move forward. The argument between having a statutory and a non-statutory inquiry is now hypothetical. The Deputy might suggest having a statutory inquiry would have been better - perhaps it might have been - but it would have been more expensive, taken longer, have had lawyers crawling all over it day and night and we would have been in and out of the High Court. On top of that, there would have been no guarantee that we would have a report.