David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Mr. Culhane misses my point. What he has just said goes right to the heart of why we are here in relation to the period from 2006 to 2016. He said the issue should be dealt with within the organisation. In other words, he is saying, "Circle the wagons". He is confirming everything that Mr. Kelly and Mr. Barrett said and his mindset was to deal internally with all the evidence which had been presented to this committee. His mindset was to keep all this evidence in-house, away from the purview of the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General. It was not the responsibility of any individual to keep it internal. The people in question had statutory responsibilities to give this information to other organisations.

I asked all witnesses if they were aware of the role and the function of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee of Public Accounts and internal audit. Mr. Culhane said he was aware of these functions and roles so he will understand that it was not a case of keeping these in-house or internal, but of making sure people got the information. Was Mr. Culhane part of withholding information from any of the organisations to which I refer?