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

Let us not forget that there are parties not in this room that are preventing the publication of the KPMG report. That is not lost on me. It is why I was frustrated earlier when I asked whether the university believes it paid above the market rate. What was the value? It is important that the KPMG report is locked down. This is an alternative process. We are not bound by any of the restrictions by which are guests are bound. The information can be provided to this committee. In many cases when there are issues in Government Departments or religious institutions, multiple parallel inquiries take place. When we ask questions of our guests, we are also seeking to put on the record what we can put on the record. There is clearly information that our guests have and say they want to give us. They could provide that information. They are not restricted from giving the information because these are factual occurrences. That is why I was so frustrated earlier. The provost clearly said that the KPMG report dealt with valuations. I am under time pressure and want to deal with a different issue but I ask our guests to reflect on the questions I asked earlier. Do they believe they paid above or below market value? What was the value? That is in no way assigning blame to anybody or suggesting our guests are trying to hide or obfuscate. It is a simple, factual question, an answer to which they can provide to the committee for inclusion in an external report separate from the KPMG report.

There are two other areas on which I think it is important to get responses on the record. I am interested in the process prior to it being brought to the governing authority and the discussion that took place at the governing authority. Can our guests put on the record the process by which the report was drafted? Where was the report drafted within the university? What offices were involved in the drafting of that report? Was it just one office or one individual?