Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not intend to have a re-run of Mr. Quigley's report. He did that work and put forward his issues. I have not checked what people got but Mr. Quigley said that the procedures in that Department alone on previous occasions were not unlike what had happened in this case. Other issues had happened at other times. Perhaps years had moved on and the rates would not be the same but he made the point clearly that it was not out of kilter with what that Department had done on previous occasions. It is also a point that the value of Ms Leech's service was further evidenced by the fact that the Office of Public Works, on similar rates, engaged her services subsequently to manage projects when the Minister, Deputy Cullen, had left that area. That issue does not stand up either.

The first point is whether it is appropriate that Ministers would recommend people. We all know that in politics, people know people and they would suggest someone who has a good deal of experience. In this case, the individual concerned had 20 years' experience in marketing and communications. She was active in the business community and the national chamber of commerce. People were very satisfied with her work — that is a fact. They came to an agreement on the individual's remuneration. The central issue, however, was whether there was a question of wrong-doing. That is what the report was about, not the rate. It was whether there was wrong-doing or some misappropriation and whether this was unfitting behaviour. That is what the report was about and we are not going to change what the report examined. In those instances, the Minister, Deputy Cullen, was cleared. However, Mr. Quigley raised a number of points relating to the procurement process which he believed, in procedural terms, should be improved upon. The Government dealt with these at its meeting on 15 February.

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