Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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The Minister has said that. I have noted his assumption that this statement was being made in such a capacity. We know that this happened in July. We also know that later in July, the Minister was given correspondence and it was put to him in parliamentary questions that the business case was not submitted by the board and the board had not seen it. A parliamentary question was tabled on 21 July by Deputy Donnelly. I want to know what steps the Minister took to rectify the matter between the time he thought the board had made this appointment based on a business plan and the time he was informed that the full board had not seen the business plan. The Minister wrote to me earlier this month to tell me that the matter was still under consideration. Bearing in mind that the Minister was made aware in July that there were problems and that this was not the board's plan, I would like to know when he gave his consent for the reappointment. How can he reconcile his statement that he made his decision on the basis of a letter he received from Horse Racing Ireland with the fact that his own departmental officials gave him a briefing in May of this year saying that a compelling business case had been received from the chairman and the fact that the Minister had sought the consent of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, at that stage to extend the contract by five years? When was the decision made? The briefing was in May. We know what happened in July. The Minister was saying in September that a decision had not been made. What is the given date in this regard?