Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let me come to the second inconsistency in Mr. O'Brien's account. He referred to Deloitte telling us it was not part of its terms of reference to conclude whether the shortfall in funding was consequent to the whistleblowing. He has said that, at the last meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts he attended, there was a dispute around figures and that he would look at those figures. As a member of the committee, like the Chairman, I believe it was always completely clear that the dispute was not just over the level of funding but also, and more to the point, the relationship between cuts or levels of funding and the whistleblowing. Therefore, it is absolutely disingenuous of Mr. O'Brien to pretend that was not the case. Why were the issues of funding and whistleblowing not part of the terms of reference for Deloitte? Why did Mr. O'Brien not insert these as part of its work? It went to the very heart of the dispute.