John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay. There will be reviews of books and things like that. Some people have been described as bullies, thugs and all the rest of it. Some people have been said to be robust in getting their own way. It was an interesting and fraught period.

However, the communications piece just seemed to misunderstand not the nature of the position, but the person who Mr. Watt was seeking to accommodate - the CMO, who is known to everybody in Ireland. I just find it hard to believe there was no informal conversation saying, "This proposal has come up and we are trying to facilitate it this way, there is a precedent in terms of Secretary Generals and I think it would be appropriate to use that model in terms of the deputy Secretary General." Otherwise, I can see the model that was followed. I am not inclined to the witch-hunt piece or the conspiracy theories, although Department officials have left themselves open to it.

I would summarise it as follows. A request was made by the CMO. The Secretary General decided to act on it. The model is not unknown. There is precedent in that it is actually provided for in terms of Secretary Generals. It is not unprecedented that a person is funded by the State outside of and beyond their role until they reach their 40 years or retirement age or whatever. This then bounced into public disclosure by leaks and the public learned of an unfinished symphony. That is my sense of it.