Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There are two questions here. The first concerns the overrun and its extent, and the distinction to be made there. The second relates to the delay in the Government finding out about it, compared with the position of the board. In that respect, the position of Paul Quinn, the chief procurement officer, is important given that he was on the development board. First, to return to the question of why he is not here now and why he was not at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts earlier, Mr. Watt said, and I agree that this is a description of the situation legally, that it was his decision. Mr. Watt made the decision that he would not come. I accept that. However, can he explain why he made that decision and why he did not think, given that Mr. Quinn was on the board and the chief procurement officer, that Mr. Quinn could bring important information to light or at least was worthy of important questioning by Members of the Oireachtas in view of his unique position of being on the board? Why make the decision not to have him here today?