Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy.

I have listened to Deputy MacSharry. We have the letter from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, which will be published and put on the public record. I will make a few observations. First, I agree with the Deputies. I do not intend to meet the Secretary General to discuss the particular issue as I accept it is a broader issue for the committee. We must acknowledge that the witness believed that there was unfair treatment, as an invited witness to the committee. He has stated that in his letter.

My concern the last day was that we might have, in some way, reflected not on the qualifications but on the competence of the particular PPP contract manager in CIT. That is a comment on his personal character rather than his professional character in terms of his ability. I want to make the point that we have not yet established whether the faults were the fault of the PPP contractor and whether the PPP contractor is obliged to correct the faults. Perhaps the faults in the building are all attributable to the contractor who may have to deal with the matter out of the PPP contractor's own costs, and not from the Exchequer. I would be more concerned if the costs of the difficulties in the building were to fall back on the taxpayer.

If the contract drawn up, which was overseen by a contract manager, was robust enough to ensure that any faults would have to be met in full by the PPP contractor, then I would say that is an indication of good competence by the person, on the public side, to make sure that anything that went wrong would have to be dealt with. I want to deal with that one point. Let the Comptroller and Auditor General come in on that point. Does he get my point?