David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think in that instance, the Chairman did stop a number of questions that were being put. That is the only way we can control issues like that. In fairness, on the day I think that was done. I am not going to get into the rights or wrongs of what happened. People can make up their own minds on that but I do not think we can just cheaply dismiss his letter. It probably took a lot for him to write that letter. It is very rare that an Accounting Officer would do that so he obviously felt that he was treated very unfairly. We should take that seriously. Equally, it is the Chairman's job to mediate meetings.

The final point that Deputy Connolly made is very important. If one goes through the letter, it almost suggests that if he is treated like that again, he may not come before this committee in future. We need to be careful in terms of how we respond to that. My main point is that it is the Chairman's job to make sure that witnesses are treated fairly and by and large, he does that job well. I do not see any difficulty-----