Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

That is a question, Sir. The Taoiseach may be aware of a precedent. Let me put it this way. Does the Taoiseach know of any other precedent where this level of fee can be commanded effectively on a permanent basis? In other words, is it not the case that the structure of these companies' charging arrangement is that the senior partner in the most prestigious firms may charge a figure approaching what was charged in this case by Ms Leech's company for a very small number of hours but that the work thereafter is done by middle ranking or lower executives for a fraction of what is being charged here, and that we are forgetting the element of political cronyism that was involved in this case? Is that not what Mr. Quigley is getting at, albeit in temperate, restrained and very polite language?

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