Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

May I ask a question? The Minister talked about responsibility but when did he first become aware of this issue? I asked him earlier to identify the then Attorney General. I am not trying to pinpoint individuals but we must be sure about who is responsible for this area. I am not suggesting that I am clear on all the technicalities involved but we employ people on behalf of the State to do that and we must be as sure as we possibly can be that they are fully responsible, that they will deliver and not cost the country unnecessary funds.

A situation arose in the health area, for instance, and I asked the Minister for Health and Children a question about the number of reports etc. The position is that 150 reports were produced costing €31 million but we now know that a memorandum was not read. We do not want long reports; we wants the facts on what happened.

See this speech in context