The controversy that erupted among Department of Agriculture civil servants following remarks by Mr Des O'Malley, the former Progressive Democrats leader, is set to continue next week when the Public Accounts Committee hears a rejection of his claims.
The Association of Higher Civil Servants has warned - after Mr O'Malley's comments on January 5th about the Department's regulation of the beef industry - that its members may not give evidence to the committee unless they are treated "fairly".
The committee chairman, Mr Jim Mitchell, yesterday postponed consideration of a written rejection of Mr O'Malley's evidence by the secretary general of the Department of Agriculture, Mr John Malone. He said the volume of data requested by the committee did not allow time for proper advance consideration. Mr Mitchell told the meeting that "we recognise the vast majority of our public servants are of an extremely high standard".
However, Mr Pat Rabbitte (DL) said some remarks during the meeting had misrepresented what Mr O'Malley had said - his evidence was not "a list of unsustainable attacks", since some referred to proven forgery and alteration of documents.