Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is unfortunate.

I return to how this matter came about and how it came into the public domain. The memorandum sent to the Minister states: "The Department is in consultation with the HSE in regard to their preparation of a press statement on the matter." Presumably, this was before the bombshell hit Mr. O'Brien. The HSE was clearly involved and I would like to know which personnel were involved. I watched what appeared to be old footage on an RTÉ news programme the other night - it appeared to be snowing - showing Mr. O'Brien and the HSE's head of communications, Dr. Paul Connors, leaving an RTÉ building. Mr. O'Brien rarely appears before a committee without his director of communications. Was Dr. Connors involved in drafting this press statement? If so, I am curious to find out why he did not inform Mr. O'Brien.