David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I will make a point in public session, if I may. It seems all this correspondence has again been leaked to the media. We have raised this several times. As politicians, we all speak to the media, and it is part of our work. We are carrying out an examination and a national media outlet should not be doing it. We cannot have them setting the agenda for us and selectively deciding what are the key issues. They examined this before we have had the opportunity to do so. It is the reality. The national broadcaster and media are examining this material before we have even had the chance to examine it. That potentially undermines our work. We can continue with it but it is not good practice for this committee. We cannot do our job fairly if the substance of what is in the documents is already in the public domain, being examined or scrutinised by the media before the Committee of Public Accounts even gets a chance to read the stuff. The stuff was sent on as soon as it came in. My phone was hopping yesterday with journalists asking for the information. When one person has it, they all want it, which is fair enough.

Given that we have agreed to do a focused examination and we will discuss in private session how we will proceed, how can we continue if there is a parallel process where the media is also doing an examination, even before we do? I will put it to members and leave it at that.