Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Special Report No. 104 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Waterford Institute of Technology - Development and Disposal of Intellectual Property in FeedHenry

9:00 am

Mr. Paul O'Toole:

The conflict is there but the fact that there is a conflict is not the issue. Conflicts occur in these situations, maybe particularly in these situations, because of the merger of individual, institutional and commercial interests. It is broadly recognised that conflicts of interest occur. There is a conflict of interest but the issue is how it was handled. As Mr. Beausang said, to conclude from the information available that the conflict was handled inappropriately is something that we have to explore. I would distinguish between the clear fact of the conflict of interest and how it was handled.

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