Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The first question I asked at that meeting was in relation to the reports to do with the Rory Coveney exit package that I read at the weekend, that the chair had an approval in that. I found that a little bit astonishing because I would have been absolutely confident that that happened in July. It had been conveyed to me as a resignation. I asked at that meeting, "Why have you not clarified this error in the report?" - a statement from RTÉ saying the former chair, with the DG, had approved that package. I could not understand how it was still there 24 hours later and had not been clarified. They said it was inaccurate and they had had no role. I directed the question to the chair and I asked the chair if she knew it was not a resignation and did not tell me. I was told she did know, she should have told me, she was sorry and she forgot. That was the first thing that happened on the Monday. That led to the next question on whether she had any role whatsoever in the other package, and she said, "No. I did not have any role in that." That is why I went out to correct the record publicly that Monday evening, to say that I just wanted to correct what was reported wrongly on Sunday that the chair and the board had no role whatsoever in approving either of these packages.