Professor William Binchy:

I believe that every single human being has an equal dignity and an inherent right to live. In parliamentary dialogue at a meeting of an Oireachtas committee, the questioner has to have some responsibility. A questioner should not attribute a specific quotation to a person he or she is questioning if it is not actually what he or she said. I hope I am not having a memory block but I am fully confident that I did not say what the Deputy has attributed to me. In those circumstances, if I am seen as being a bit fussy for objecting and refusing to accept an entire quotation which was falsely attributed to me, I would, with respect, encourage the Deputy to accept that I am entirely entitled to defend myself.