David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to know what has been done since 2014. I am asking if that was Ms McPhillips's experience. With respect, Ms McPhillips is the acting Secretary General. I am reading a report, which was very hard hitting and which looked at the Department of Justice and Equality going back over an awfully long time. Ms McPhillips worked in the Department for most of that time period, although not all of it. She is in a very good position, not just as someone who worked in the Department for a long time. Ms McPhillips is now the Accounting Officer appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts and I am putting this to her.

I did not dream this up. It is contained in an independent report which was carried out as a result of failings in Ms McPhillips's Department, one of which was that there was undue deference paid to senior gardaí by senior representatives of the Department. I am asking her, as the Accounting Officer for her Department, if that is a view she would share.