Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to speak on the same topic. I wish to puzzle out what I think is an extraordinary intervention by the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan. To me it is astonishing that a Minister of State would consider it appropriate to put out a statement and to rap the knuckles of the Committee of Public Accounts. I have the statement in front of me. The Minister of State said he felt he had to come out and defend somebody's reputation and then he almost warned us to back off. That seems to me to be the message. Be that as it may, the question then arises as to what we as a committee do because no individual is cited. I have no doubt Deputy Cullinane was in the Minister of State's sights, possibly for constituency reasons. The Deputy is not instanced in the statement, however, the committee is and I wish to know what we are going to do about that.