David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before the meeting, I raised with Mr. Lenihan that the correspondence should have been dealt with by the committee before the Chairman made it public. It was not addressed to the Chairman but, rather, the clerk to the committee. That does not set a good precedent. If correspondence is sent to the clerk of the committee, it is for the committee to decide how it will deal with it. I wish to put that on the record. I do not wish to be overly critical. All members were given a copy of the dossier and is a matter for each member as to what he or she does with it. We received that from Mr. Miskelly. However, this letter was sent to the committee and the Chair was wrong to put its substance into the public domain before the committee had an opportunity to discuss it.