Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I understand that people believe there may be a misunderstanding by groups out there after the vote was taken, but I find it difficult to accept. I am not rejecting it entirely, but I find it difficult to accept. If we are going to speak in that vein and ask for groups to come back, we need to spell out what groups we are talking about. We need to name them rather than just to have a nebulous reference to groups who are misunderstanding something. It is important that we identify and name the groups we think should be given a second chance and invited back again while we are having this discussion.

There has been a deliberate attempt to paint the Chairman as somehow biased and I find it extremely disturbing and wrong. It is evidentially untrue. It is a false perception. There was even a complaint to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, of which I am a member, accusing the Chairman of repeatedly calling a member of the committee a liar. The committee was about to write to the Chairman to remind her of her duties when I asked that we see the transcripts of her saying repeatedly that the person was a liar as I knew it had never happened. I do not know where the matter has gone since then. It is important that we defend the Chairman and her role and fairness otherwise there will be this attempt to say the entire exercise here is flawed and its outcome must therefore be flawed. I want that on the record. The majority of the committee agrees with me but we need to find a way to express it as a majority.