John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Let me be clear about this. The advice we received was in regard to the workings of the Committee of Public Accounts. It was absolutely and totally in relation to that. The information we received from the official in terms of the dossier is information that was given, as the legal advice said, to the individual Members of the House who happen to also be members of the Committee of Public Accounts. The document is not a document of the committee. Each member will have it as their personal papers. The matter that was raised by Deputy McDonald in the Dáil yesterday is a matter for the House. We have agreed on how to dispose of the issues here before us in terms of the two options, in terms of the legal advice we received and in the context of not naming individuals. That is what we normally do here. What has been described by both speakers and by Deputy Costello is in line with the decision taken last week. Members are free after that to use their own judgment in relation to what they do in the House. I cannot allow what happened in the House yesterday under the Ceann Comhairle to pertain here at this meeting because it is against legal advice, and I think we all understand that. Is that right?