David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to hold the meeting up but I also do not want people to be under any misapprehension that members of this committee do not understand the rules. We perfectly understand the rule that the Accounting Officer is Mr. Watt. He can come on his own but Accounting Officers often bring officials with them to help. We have had Accounting Officers from universities and institutes of technology on questions of finance and they brought their finance officers. I believe there is a reason Mr. Quinn is not here today and that it was a decision taken by Mr. Watt. We will ask him when he comes in.

Nobody was under the impression that Mr. Quinn was an Accounting Officer, that he had to be here or that he could be compelled to be here. However, he was asked, in a courteous way through Mr. Watt, to be here. We can blame members of the committee for leaking information and we know it happens but the Department was also quoted in the media which I have seen. The Department is well able to spin too and to brief the media. Let us not put all the blame on members of the committee. There are undoubtedly members who unfairly leak documents, of which I and other members have to learn through the media. One of these was the story about Mr. Quinn not coming in, which we received media queries about. The way we found out about the decision not to allow him to be here was discourteous.