David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is very important for me. We have established facts that are in a draft report and a modified report, which we cannot see and may never see. The facts are there so the issues do not go away. We will deal with whether the HEA has these powers but the issues still remain.

I want to paint the scenario and maybe Mr. Beausang can help me with this matter as well. The Attorney General will consider whether the HEA has powers. In fact, this matter is very interesting because it could set a precedent in many ways in terms of what the HEA can and cannot do. It is, therefore, very important and has wider implications beyond Waterford. Let us consider for a second that the Attorney General decides the report is outside the powers of the HEA and cannot be published.

In that scenario, there seem to be a number of options. The HEA could start again within its powers. The report could be scrapped by the HEA and we could have a report compiled on foot of a ministerial direction, which is, perhaps, what should have happened in the first instance. Alternatively, some other body could do it. Would that body be a commission of investigation, a law enforcement organisation or some other regulatory entity? The witnesses are going to have to help us to understand who will examine this, because the facts remain and they are not going away. Before I leave here today I want to know what is going to happen if this report is dead in the water.