Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

No attempt was made to explain to the viewers that in the course of a year-long purchase process no suitable land was offered in County Dublin to the site selection committee at agricultural prices or any amount close to those prices. No attempt was made to explain to the viewers that the price agreed in respect of Thornton Hall was the lowest price of all the sites evaluated as suitable by the site selection committee. RTE made no effort whatsoever to inform its viewers of that fact.

I regret to say that the "Prime Time" programme was calculated to give a most misleading impression to the viewers as to the sequence of events and the substance of the transaction it covered. They could have given all the material that I am giving, since it was all in the documents in front of them. However, they deliberately chose to give a very different impression. I regret that the overall effect of the programme was to convey a misleading impression that there had been a departure from acceptable standards by members of the site selection committee and their advisers. There was no such departure. For the record, I can confirm that I found nothing to suggest that such a departure had taken place. I ask the House to note that Mr. Webster, to whom reference has been made, acted at all times in the interest of the Irish Prison Service and with the utmost professional integrity. The fact has been mentioned that he disclosed a conflict of interest. He discovered after his dealings with Mr. Dillon that he was related to a brother-in-law of the vendor by way of being a second cousin.

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