Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept that and I accept the premise upon which that report must be awaited and that the issues cannot be prejudged.

My second question, before getting to the famous note, relates to bogus self-employment. I do not think €20 million will come within an ass's roar of what is required. Based on the current payments that have been made, the entitlements people have lost, the whole range of other compensations that will be required because of the cumulative nature of what people were entitled to being lost and the number of people we have been told are involved, it will not come anywhere near it. Mr. Fives and his colleagues need to have a plan over a longer period to deal with this.

Turning to the famous note, Mr. Bakhurst has been doing a very good job. I was very disappointed with the initial interaction today. It was too confrontational, reflecting on what I have said about the legal advice and so on. My colleagues, Deputy Burke, who has legal qualifications, and Deputies Devlin, McAuliffe and Verona Murphy have articulated the matter much better than I could.

This issue is getting out of hand. The idea that there is independent legal advice within RTÉ is rubbish. Everyone has proven that. We have legal advice here, but it is not independent of the Oireachtas. We are all part of the Oireachtas. We need to find a way out of this because if this ends up in the courts, imagine a situation where we are trying to explain to the public that we are spending taxpayers' money on both sides to try to get a note which, potentially if you accept all the commentary on it, may not be that big an issue at all. There is a principle from our side: we, on behalf of the public, need to have trust so we need to see it.

There is a precedent. I have twice been a member of the Committee of Public Accounts. I am offering a compromise or a way out. At the end of my suggestion, I will ask Mr. Bakhurst if he will consider it. Rather than jumping in and saying he will not, he might just consider it. We have had precedents in this committee where there has been documentation that we required where we have gone into private session to meet with people and have gone through the documentation without publishing it. That is one option.

Another option is that we leverage it through the Department but we as a committee work with the Department if it is brought in by RTÉ in regard to this. Part of this, which I am very surprised at, is that Mr. Bakhurst has not read it or seen it himself. First, will Mr. Bakhurst please look at it?