Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the legal bill, this is exactly what we did. The officials in our Department interrogate those numbers and this is how we arrived at €119,000. That figure came from people who work in my Department going deeper and deeper with questioning to find out what the actual cost was, especially given there could be further liabilities if legal action were to be pursued. That €119,000, therefore, did not come out of the ether and was not unprecipitated. It was sought and detected by our officials.

Have we bottomed out? The reality is that when Professor Niamh Brennan produces her report it may very well be a continuation or republication of the one already done internally in the Department regarding the expenditure and the sums of money, but I expect there will be a lot more in terms of the governance and the culture. I was watching yesterday evening and saw some of the interaction in respect of the 60 pieces of correspondence and the Secretary General answered those questions with regard to those 60 pieces of correspondence. One of the issues that was blatantly obvious, though, was that on more than one occasion it was said the appointment of an assistant principal officer higher grade could be proceeded with, but it was not done. Ultimately, when the appointment was made, it was made at that grade, but it took 18 months for the appointment to be made even though the Department had said it could go ahead 18 months previously. My focus now is to ensure what we get by way of a full and final report from Professor Brennan can be laid before the Oireachtas and then we can come back in again. We must then actually rebuild confidence in the organisation.