Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

To be honest, the expression used was "not picked up". That is pretty tame stuff when we consider there is non-compliant procurement in respect of the consultant. That was a finding from the Comptroller and Auditor General. That is not at issue. It is a significant governance failure. The university put forward three proposals and Dunnes Stores was not part of that. It was suboptimal in terms of how this was done at a late stage without any valuation. There is nothing in dispute about that. Professor Mey has pretty much confirmed those things. It is not something that the HEA has taken up wrong. We know some of those things. The HEA may well have misinterpreted the statement. It is really not credible, to be honest. I am sure the HEA is paying attention to the media coverage on this and to the meetings of the Committee of Public Accounts. Why can the authority not agree at this point that this is less than credible?