David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Looking forward is fantastic and I hope lessons have been learned. Looking back is primarily the core function of the committee. I appreciate that today in the main we are dealing with the claims issue, but the procurement issue is also important. The organisation knew from the findings of the audit that there were problems in procurement yet, when Dr. Scally tried to do his work, he was unable to do it because documents had been destroyed. Surely, when there is an issue of this importance, there should be processes in place to protect documentation. To be honest, it is common sense that documents should be protected, yet documentation was destroyed. I want to know why this was allowed to happen and who was responsible for it. For example, is senior management responsible or was it a process problem and so on? Will the Department and the HSE forward a note on the matter to the committee?