David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not get that from Mr. Griffin's response but I will accept it nonetheless. He was asked earlier about the meetings that took place between the former Minister and Mr. McCourt. It would be unfair of me or anybody else to expect Mr. Griffin to speak for the former Minister because he cannot do so but Mr. Griffin is the person who signs the cheque for all of this. There is a perception, and I stress that it is only a perception, that the process is contaminated and that the report into this is a whitewash. Leaving aside this public perception and media or political commentary, many meetings took place between the former Minister and Mr. McCourt. It was put to Mr. Griffin earlier by Deputy MacSharry that it is reasonable for members of this committee to ask him as the person who ultimately signs the cheque, and he does not know or least we do not know how much he will sign for, whether it was appropriate for the former Minister to have had that level of contact with somebody so closely associated with the only bidder in the game, about which we spoke earlier. I put this question again to Mr. Griffin because I was not satisfied with the response. This committee deserves a response to that question. Mr. Griffin is the Secretary General and the buck stops with him. Surely when he saw the number of meetings that took place between the former Minister and Mr. McCourt, he would have formed an opinion. I am asking him to share that opinion with members of this committee.