Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be fair to Senator Ní Chuilinn, she hit the nail on the head there when she made the comparison with racism. We are all familiar with those campaigns. Things are escalated immediately. There has been a time lag here between the emails and the actual complaint, which I think is inexcusable. Whatever about people's ability or inability to talk about the emails, it is inexcusable.

I will make one point relation to Gareth Maher, because I did propose that he would attend. I did that because he was part of that email chain initially. Second, he actually launched the FAI's safeguarding campaign in 2024. There is a picture of him on the FAI's website launching the association's 2024 safeguarding strategy, so I do believe he has something to bring when it comes to safeguarding.

The ultimate issue here is this debate about concern and complaint. What is going to stand out the most for me is if in the fullness of time, subject to whatever investigation happens and whatever conclusions there are and if the initial concerns expressed in the period in 2023 and the nine- to ten-month period where no action was taken are largely reflected in or similar to whatever was initially alleged via rumour and allegation and that is what actually happened when it came to making the complaint, then people in this room will have serious questions to answer.

I will pick up on one thing Ms Pakes referred to when the Chair was questioning her. It was about the precautionary measure being taken to instigate a stand down order. I think it was the Chair who asked the question. It was said it was a precautionary measure to initiate that stand down measure. Surely, the time to take a precautionary measure is when someone becomes aware of allegations or rumours or insinuations and not when it is actually escalated to a complaint.