Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is not really the point. The idea being put forward is that Ms West contacted the authority and said "Listen, I'm in awful trouble with the job here. I want to go to a meeting with the authority and the lads won't let me. Any chance you could put in a good word for me to go? Clearly, nobody rang and asked that she be allowed to go the meeting. I presume she asked to attend the meeting because she had fundamental, diametrically opposed views to other people who were attending it. I come from a catering background. I am not being derogatory when I say that this is not the person who makes the sandwiches; she is the top person and has hands-on access to information in this area. She is of a rank whereby she would not normally be obliged to pick up the phone and ask for the help of the Policing Authority.

Does the witness normally get phone calls from people at that high a level? The analyst told the witness that she should be at the meeting. If that did not set alarm bells ringing then, given all the points the witness has made about her awareness of the culture, the problems and the professional tensions, how can that be a conflict? It is the witness's job to deal with this; she is there to oversee that and to shake it up.