Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The letter quotes all sorts of bits and pieces but it does not deal with the elephant in the room. This came about because we identified an event that cost €13,000. I alluded it to it yesterday at the launch of the report. What is the sanction? Will the money be paid back? Will there be action taken against the college? There is no way any existing circular, however much it is in need of being replaced by a new circular, sanctioned €13,000 for a bash with ice sculptures and so on no matter how important the person. He is not really telling us anything. There are three pages here that can be summed up in one sentence, namely, "We do not have adequate measures in place, we plan to have adequate measures in place and we will let you know at some stage." The key point is there is still no sanction. Is someone divvying up this €13,000 in Cork? That is the issue. It is the issue with everything we do in here. When we identify things, it is not our role to determine what a sanction might be, as the Chairman said at the report launch yesterday. What are we doing it for? Is it just to highlight stuff, give copies to the media and then nothing happens? Maybe a circular changes or a policy direction changes but there is no comeback for the public and the people's money. That is what I would write back to him and say. I would ask him what he is doing about recovering the money.