Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I will not repeat what has been said. I agree with everything the previous speaker said. This is no witch-hunt. We have to do a job here. This is a constitutional committee. We need to get to the bottom of what is going on here. I know we cannot go back forever. We have to concentrate on the current Accounting Officer, who happens to be the Garda Commissioner in this instance. Even more serious questions have been raised today. Specific questions have arisen regarding the evidence that was given last week. I am conscious that there is a huge amount of documentation. I have gone through the transcript of what was said at last week's meeting. I went through it twice. I am conscious that various Deputies asked for specific documents, reports and emails. For instance, we asked the Commissioner to check whether there was any email traffic during a certain time period which said that the internal auditor was to be kept at bay. We asked for documentation in relation to certain financial stuff. Anyone who goes through the transcript will see that many such requests were made. I think we need to analyse the documents we asked for before we go through the next stage of this.

I will set out my suggestion. We have some documentation from Mr. Barrett. Requests have been made for other documentation. We need that documentation as soon as possible. I suggest we should write to the Garda Commissioner and the Department of Justice and Equality, as the two main players here. The OPW is also relevant in this context because questions have been asked about the lands. The OPW probably did not know for a period of time that it owned the lands. It certainly did not know about the rent it was not actually getting. We should write to the Department, the Garda and the OPW to ask for the documents and references that were sought last week. After a gap period of a week has been allowed to enable us to analyse that information, we should start the process of looking at the issues we all know we need to get to the bottom of. I agree with what Deputy MacSharry said earlier on. I believe multiple sittings, including special sittings, will be required. This will have an effect on our diaries. If we were to bring in the gardaí and the Department in two different segments, that might be a good process. We might have to break it up like that.

I suggest that in the next few days or the next week, members of the committee who feel that certain individuals in various roles need to give evidence should write to the clerk to ask for those people to be included and to justify their inclusion by explaining why they think those people are relevant. This will be necessary so we can make sure we can bring out the fullness of what we need to bring out. I suggest that we write to the relevant parties to ensure we get the documentation we asked for, in addition to any further documentation my colleagues might wish to get, and that we begin this process the following week by bringing in witnesses as suggested by the Chair.