Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to Senator O'Reilly's comments, while it is of course the responsibility of the Secretary General to deal with staffing issues and so on, I do not want to suggest that I do not have some responsibility in this regard. I do. This is a political issue as well as a momentary failing in the form of a breach of guidelines. That is why I felt it was important to have this report and to bring it to the committee. It is also important to recognise that it certainly would have been helpful if I had raised the matter directly with the Secretary General at the time. I did not and I allowed the agenda to move on. That is what happened. There was no issue. Nobody raised the matter either inside or outside the Department in the time following that evening. I think it would have been helpful if I had addressed the matter directly with the Secretary General at the time but I did not do so. When the matter became one of public concern, however, we responded by trying to produce a comprehensive and truthful account of what happened.