Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Deputy Quinn for tabling this amendment. At this juncture, the difficulty is understanding and accepting what has been said privately or in e-mails. Given that we are moving to a much larger investment compared to the €2 million in 1999, we have an opportunity to do this right. The suggestion made by Deputy Quinn, that the auditor be appointed by the Government or the Department of Education and Science, is good and it would give another layer of authority to the books when they are produced. There are examples in other areas where this has happened. Rather than giving the power to the third party to make a decision, it would be good if we allowed the Department to nominate. It is a worthwhile suggestion.

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