Mr. Maurice Mullen:

Mr. Reynolds will deal with the Spanish speaker issue.

The responsibility for the completion of the report remained at all times with Fisher Associates. Any editing done to the report was done by the company. They made it very clear to us, as I explained to the committee, the circumstances between the first draft and the second draft. They went into the process I described earlier. There was no manipulation of any process.

Fisher Associates put a suite of conclusions on the table and it is now up to the Department to consider them and, where policy issues arise, for the Minister to decide ultimately whether to accept them. This is why it is an open process and a wide range of views have been expressed. As part of the process we will ultimately develop an action plan that addresses the issues arising. We have been focusing our discussion on the issue of centres but, while the centres are a vital element for us, other elements are also central our considerations, including oil pollution and areas associated with the main survey office, backlogs and legislation. We have to be able to address all of these issues.

Unfortunately, we are dealing with them at the wrong time - this cuts across all areas - and it is difficult to get the staff we need. We fully accept that we must operate within this environment. This is why we are considering the recommendations in depth rather than rushing them through. Every effort is being made to explore our options. We understand why people speak about local knowledge. If there is a benefit to Spanish speakers, that is great, although the international language for aviation and the marine is English. One is expected to operate in English, but that does not undermine the value of the capabilities in Spanish available in Valentia.