Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is important because Mr. O'Brien, as the person in charge of the Health Service Executive, told the committee that it was an independent report, he had taken a hands-off approach to the report and he had no dealings in respect of it. It has since transpired, however, that his organisation had a large number of dealings on the report. I understand there are 409 pages showing emails and contacts.

Deputy Catherine Murphy also raised the issue of an imbalance of power. If the transcript of our discussion on the Grace case is to be submitted to the commission, it must be noted that this matter came before the committee as a result of the persistence of the whistleblowers who have suffered. They had to find a value for money angle to bring this case before this committee and its predecessor, which did great work under the former Chairman. While the Health Service Executive repeatedly contacted Deloitte, the service provider is not allowed to do likewise. A serious question mark arises regarding the independence of the Deloitte report and any other report commissioned or produced in this manner.