Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Like myself. At the same time, in fairness to the Deputy, they know where to find him when they are looking for him.

When people talk about the independence of organisations it does not mean that contact is precluded or that if there is a complaint to be made either way that people should be too shy about making their views known. It is important that the relationship is respectful and appropriate. In this instance the fact that it was something to do with me is irrelevant; the organisation recognised it was inappropriate and that a mistake was made or whatever. It got through the system, however it got through. I did not ask for any action to be taken but rather it was a case of people acting on their own initiative and I understand they were not alone in that.

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