Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is now 2019 and maybe in 2020 we might get an answer to this question about something that happened. It will be so historic. From the perspective of a Chairman of a Committee of Public Accounts, justice delayed is justice denied. The taxpayer will be denied if there is a loss. It has already taken six years and nobody has been able to put a figure on the loss, if there is a figure. In another few years, we might have a figure, or we might not. I believe there is something wrong with the whole process if, six years after an issue arises, we do not even know if there is a loss. The witnesses can understand my position. They do not have an answer. I suppose they will say to me it is a rhetorical question but they get where I am coming from. I am surprised at the position we are in if these issues were so serious as to take up so much time. Even when Mr. Thorn was sent in, why did somebody not try to deal with this? Why did the finance committee not check whether we were out of pocket? If the organisation is out of pocket, it is the front-line services, including the youth services and all the other great services provided, that are affected. If there was less money in the organisation and something else got cut, that is what we are here to know about. Six years after some of these issues arising, people are just beginning to ask the question. The answer is that we will wait until the Garda completes its work and look at it at that stage. I find that delay-----