Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude by saying this whole debacle is unseemly in the extreme. Sadly, it has called into question the continuance in his position of an excellent and very talented Secretary General. It makes a farce of an expression of confidence in the Secretary General by the Tánaiste and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Delivery Plan and Reform, while we have an independent report authored by somebody of the highest calibre in international reputation. It is not credible for people to on the one hand express confidence in the Secretary General, to welcome the report and not take action. It simply makes a mockery of it. If it was somebody lower down in our public service, and certainly in the political world, they would have to walk.