Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

I would like to add some context with regard to the respective roles of the board and the executive. The gallery is very unusual in that it has an Accounting Officer and a Vote and it also has a board. In most cases, where one has an Accounting Officer there is not a supervisory board to oversee in any sense the day-to-day running of the organisation. It would be typical in a Department where there is a Vote that the Accounting Officer and his or her team take responsibility for day-to-day decisions. That may add a little to what has been said about the responsibility of the head of administration in consultation with the Accounting Officer to make the kinds of spending decision we are talking about.