Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We knew in 2007 about the height of the salaries scandal which was going on there, ever since the time of a Government that included the Minister’s party as a partner. I was on the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources at the time and we knew, as did the dogs on the street. I am asking now who is keeping account of the financial cost of the two pretty big companies and financial houses who will be producing these expensively done reports. We have got flooded with paper and reports. It is a total smothering job. Now we have these expert groups, as the Minister has mentioned. The cost of all this is mounting in an ongoing fashion. I have no faith in these groups obtaining honesty, truth and fair play for the staff in there. They will want to move on with business as usual and to tell the committee whatever. We set deadlines when we asked for questions to be answered and to have the answers so far in advance of our meetings. I refused to come to our last meeting because we only received the answers the night before. There were hundreds if not thousands of pages of stuff. The way we are being treated with those reports is a sham.