Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If the university had made that statement, we would not be here because the university would have looked at and done something about it. We are here because this has come out as a result of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, "RTE Investigates" and all the other reports. To that melee, we can add all the whistleblowers, who have suffered dreadfully, an issue we cannot go into today. They have drawn our attention to various issues. If this was the culture regarding severance payments - taking two persons from a subsidiary company and facilitating their pension - it begs the question of what the culture was regarding ordinary employees on the ground who came forward to highlight inconsistencies and questions about financial irregularities regarding receipts. Was it not very difficult for them?