John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As far as I can see, there is a political game being played. This is selective memory by a couple of members of this committee with regard to what is said and what is not said. The reality is that the other side of what the Chairman just said is that there has been bona fide attempt by the committee to organise with the other committee chairpersons to deal with this definitively, as suggested by Deputy Michael McGrath. The Chairman cannot on one hand deal with this in isolation and on the other ignore the realities of the system of Oireachtas committees that are competing almost for jurisdiction in this regard.

That is the problem here. I do not need to be lectured on jurisdiction, what has happened and what has been said and not said. I have been on the Committee of Public Accounts often enough to know that people try to hijack jurisdiction all the time, as Deputy Michael McGrath alluded to. There are two sides to this. If there were honesty in dealing with this affair, I would agree with the Chairman and go along with his assertion. I do not agree, however, because I know how things actually operate around here and I do not believe there has been a conscious, honest attempt to deal with this behind the scenes.