Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It would be incorrect to present this as a knee-jerk reaction. I gave one example. I remind the House that the Legislature and everyone in both Houses were criticised by commentators, the public and everyone involved in the tribunals over the reason that and other such cases could have happened. That led to a huge inquiry, which produced two tomes, by the Committee of Public Accounts. It went through in detail the possibilities and the difficulties arising from this matter and came to strong conclusions. The audit review group diluted those conclusions to a certain extent and the Bill dilutes them further by raising the bar, as Senator McDowell said. Whatever else it is, it is not a knee-jerk reaction to only one case. Much consideration has been given to it. The Houses demanded that legislation be introduced to ensure this could not happen again. The issue was discussed at the Committee of Public Accounts. Whatever our decision, the issue has been given a lot of concentrated thought. It came as a direction from the tribunals set up by the Houses of the Oireachtas.