Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy Verona Murphy, I await the documents that are being prepared for the Dáil next week. It is a serious matter and I would certainly want to have the full range of documents in front of me before I comment on it. However, there is one area in the reporting that I think is appropriate for this forum. That is the suggestion, and I want to be careful in how I phrase this - I will try to rely on what was in the article - that somehow there was an arrangement made with the Comptroller and Auditor General in regard to how these matters would be reported and that this would then be used as a way of hiding the overall legal activity. It is appropriate that we comment on that matter at this forum and try to find out if there was some sort of special arrangement in respect of this liability, as opposed to the liability that might be due for any other account that would come before us.

The article states: "Ultimately it proved possible to agree a form of wording which complied with government accounting requirements without jeopardising the confidentiality of the State's strategy in defending this litigation." I ask the Comptroller and Auditor General and the officials from the Department to comment on that.