I’m not going down the Hamlet without the Prince route. You’ve read enough of that by now. Frank and Ange weren’t at the Public Accounts Committee, and they made sure they wouldn’t be talked about. The final nail in the coffin never presented itself, for better or for worse.

So let’s move on, and focus on something else.

What struck me yesterday was that we all jumped into a time machine and arrived back into the 19th Century, back to the beginnings of Paternalistic Philanthropy. Even the most cynical part of me could see that the four gentlemen seated before the committee held a genuine belief that they were directors of a company that was doing the ‘right thing’ for their clients.

To me, it looked like classic institutionalisation. They had all served at least twenty years on the board, after all. But one way or another, they really did look heartbroken. What they believed in, who they believed in, had turned to dust.

And yet their paternalism shone through: they were genuinely concerned about the stress Angela is under. I do wonder how that would pan out if the shoe was on the other foot… but again, let’s move on.

The thing is that, despite everything, I wonder am I being too kind?

These were all skilled gentlemen who had served or still serve on other boards mostly in the private sector. They were all big hitters in the business arena. The company they are in charge of has a multi-milion euro turnover – but over the past 15 years, the voluntary sector has undergone a striking transformation at governance level.

And unfortunately, these gentlemen seem to have only cottoned on to this in last few months.

In the end, they left looking exhausted and slightly broken – the committee got some answers, and there were no final nails in coffins.