Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Another issue we were to come back to under that heading involved Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board. In the past week or so, there was a television programme which outlined some of the procurement issues there. Some of those will fall under a criminal investigation. Some of the issues, however, will not. Certainly, I am picking up deep concern about the waste of public funds in a sector that is under pressure. People are being asked to pay voluntary fees while others are having meetings at the K Club. That is how people are, understandably, absorbing what is happening. We need to determine those aspects of it that have been referred to the Garda and will be investigated so that we can come back to this issue because it is not just about Kildare and Wicklow ETB but the oversight by the Department in the context of the historical connection. A previous report was done and the oversight simply was not there. We cannot leave that one, although I accept that some of it is not within our remit because it has been referred to the Garda.