Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I listened to Mary Wilson on RTÉ's "Drivetime" the other evening talking to an expert about how we should not allow people get away with saying "the culture", because it lets individuals away with wrongdoing, and I do not mean the Deputy. They blame the culture, the system, the policy and so on. It is about individuals as well. It is not about an ice sculpture or a portrait, which is the visible stuff, the window dressing that we get to see, and which makes me worried about what is under the bonnet, particularly when one looks at investigations done by KPMG and so on where there has been at least the complexion of people investigating themselves. There might be no wrongdoing at all, but then again there might be. It is all wrong. It is great that the chairman of the governing body will sign off from now on, but as things stood I have no doubt the chairman of the governing body would have signed off for the ice sculpture, the party and everything else. In fairness to Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, when he was here and we raised this matter, he said it was a matter of fact that the contribution of someone who has served his or her country and institution so well would be acknowledged, and I agree with that.

In everybody else's office, however, it is "pass the hat around", everyone puts in a score, and there is a bit of finger food, a pint and a voucher for Brown Thomas if one is lucky. That is the end of it. As for the portrait thing, CIT has an art college. I am sure it is proud of its students, and I am sure the best student could be provided with a bursary of €200, €300, €400 or - let us really push the boat out - €500, as opposed to spending €22,000. I am sure it has confidence in its own students. That is the minutiae, the window dressing, the surface stuff, but the fact that it existed and happened worries me about what is beneath the bonnet. It is common sense; we should not throw lavish bashes. It is not Mr. Robert Mugabe's going away party that we run here. There is a way to do business and that is not it. In fairness, in most private-sector companies that I worked in, and certainly in the House, when an usher or someone else retires, an email goes out and if people want to give a few shillings they do, and there is a modest evening and maybe a gift given.