Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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I accept that such meetings can be entirely innocent. I am aware that the Secretary General has met representatives of the company in question on two other occasions to discuss ICT, knowledge performance and so on. My question relates to the relationship between the company and the Department. It comes down not to the tax rate but the arrangements between the Department and certain multinational companies. Would it be the norm for a Secretary General of the Department of Finance, when meeting representatives of a company, to suggest that they approach the Government with a view to selling their products and for the CEO of that company to e-mail the Secretary General subsequently to ask that he meet a salesperson in Dublin on a particular date? Will Mr. Tobin indicate whether that type of thing is normal practice?