Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Watt to the committee. It is the first time in my time here that we do not have an opening statement from any witness, including many individuals who do not hold public office and who stress out at having to provide an opening statement to the Members of the Oireachtas. Let us get into the meat of it, however.

You mentioned earlier, and I want to put on the record, that the report on page 6 does confirm that the two Secretaries General secondments were for four years in duration, and the others of two years, the reason being, obviously, that five years is permitted, while you approved a secondment up to ten years.

Do you accept the findings by Ms. Maura Quinn? She stated that:

The proposed funding of €2 million a year committed to by ... [you], in the Letter of Intent to Trinity College Dublin ... until the retirement of ... [Dr. Holohan], was a very significant commitment which by-passed all of the accepted protocols for research funding and was linked atypically to one named individual.