Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

We listened carefully to what the Comptroller and Auditor General said to us and have put in place tighter monitoring arrangements in respect of the TalkTalk programme so that we can see better as we go along. It cannot ever be an absolute tracking because there may be additional EGF-only expenditure associated with it but there is also expenditure running in various programmes which is part of the typical expenditure of FÁS or an institute of technology that is very difficult to track and take out. It can be monitored but it cannot be done so absolutely. Yes, we have learned the lesson and are seeking to do it in a more co-ordinated and enhanced way. We will have a real challenge if and when we have another sectoral. We are obviously not pleased that there was another occasion in TalkTalk but the fact that we had another opportunity to test the concepts for improvement that have been identified in the various reviews was very fortuitous for us in the context of being able to design a set of arrangements.

We also have a lot of challenges if there is another sectoral application. I do not know if there will be another sectoral application but we talked about the possibility. It is looking very likely that we will have an EGF. Unfortunately, in the past couple of days, we have also had job loss announcements. Whether those announcements give rise to the possibility of EGF applications remains to be seen because they must be made in periods of time and of certain volumes within periods of time. They are within globalisation but, hopefully, it will be expanded back into the crisis after the start of 2014. We must take the lessons we learned from construction and seek to apply them to the overall if there is another sectoral. The figure of 63% in construction is in the context of the difficulties and challenges we had with construction. It is notable that we got that level of completion. I would like it to have been higher but it is notable that we got to 63%. Even looking at the effectiveness of it and the numbers of people involved who are in employment, in the context of the national dialogue about construction workers, the fact that a certain proportion of those construction workers are back in employment, regardless of whether or not they received support under the EGF, is heartening. It is heartening that it is possible for construction workers to re-enter the labour market at the moment.