David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My concern is that this could turn into a sideshow and become an issue between the accountable person, Mr. Fraser and members of this committee, which is of Mr. Fraser's making because his letter was over the top and defensive. He could have approached the matter differently. That said, if we are going to do this, we have to frame it in the right context. The context for me is that it is Chapter 1 in the account which we would want to scrutinise anyway. The Comptroller and Auditor General has given us the parameters in terms of the "how" and on the controls that are in place. It would be within the scope of the accounting person to answer for the committee not why the money was spent but how it was spent. I think we should focus on that. I support doing it. I agree with the concerns around the upcoming Presidential election. I said publicly when asked about this that I have a concern in that regard. I do not think the Committee of Public Accounts should put itself in a position whereby it could be seen that we are doing this for political reasons, that there are people outside of this committee who are lobbying us to do it because they want it as a backdrop to the election. That is not the reason we should do this, in my view. We need to be careful, set parameters and do it right. We should not allow that meeting to become a sideshow. It would be remiss of us to do so.