Top civil servant apologises for any offence but does not recall 'control the mob' comments

The Department of Public Expenditure's secretary general has been forced to apologise to a Dáil committee after he told officials before a crunch children's hospital costs meeting that the group's chairman "has to control the mob".

Robert Watt apologised if he had caused offence to the Dáil's public accounts committee despite later saying the remark was "colloquial" and that he could not remember if he said it.