Sec Gen of DEPR accused of calling Oireachtas committee 'a mob', Robert Watt says he did not mean to offend
Secretary General Robert Watt Secretary General Robert Watt SECRETARY GENERAL OF Department of Public Expenditure and Reform , Robert Watt, has said he did mean to cause offence to committee members by referring to them as a “mob”.
Watt hesitated and said “if anyone takes offence to what I said I apologise”. He was asked whether he did say the comment a few minutes prior outside the committee room.He then added: “It is a colloquial saying… if I said something to offend, it was not meant to offend.”Today’s meeting got off to a bumpy start today, after members were only told last night that the Chief Procurement Officer Paul Quinn would not be appearing before them.
Members of the committee were outraged today when the committee chair Sean Fleming said Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, informed him that Quinn would not be attending today. Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane said there is a level of contempt being shown to Oireachtas committees, while Fianna Fáil’s Marc McSharry said “two fingers” were being given to the committee, along with a message of “we’ll do what we want, when we want”.
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