Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise one point. In regard to what happened this morning, and in the context of what happened last week, it seems to me that we were told something last week by a Department official that was patently incorrect, as the witness today told us. We were told by a Department official last week that they had consulted with the State Claims Agency and, this week, we heard that they absolutely were not consulted about that. It seems to me that it was not a kind of “Did you do it?”, and then the person said “Yes”, because we discussed it at length. It was a conversational interaction and it was described to us what happens, that they acquiesced to the idea of a non-disclosure agreement, they acquiesced to the idea that there are two parties in a room, neither of which is the State. I know we are probably going to have those people back in but, in the meantime, is it possible to go back to the Department and ask for clarity in respect of what we were told this morning? We were told one thing last week that seems to be manifestly untrue, and I can only accept from the witnesses this week that when they say they have not been consulted about something, they have not. I do not know what our options are here. I know we have been in this position before.