Mr. Dermot Nolan:

That was an issue last year when Bord Gáis applied for an increase. I apologise for not precisely remembering the numbers, but I think it was a 7% increase. As we are bound to do, we had to consult on that and give a period of time for people to comment on it. We noted in the consultation that the company had asked for 7%. We were minded to give the company less, but we also noted that over the six to eight weeks before a final decision was due, fossil fuel prices could change and in fact, they did change. Gas prices basically increased over the eight week period, so as a result, the final increase was higher than 7%, even though we still cut costs. We did our very best to put that message across. Perhaps we could have done better, because it somehow got lost at the time. However, I can assure the Deputy that in the end the company applied for an increase of 1% to 1.5% above what we ultimately sanctioned. Perhaps we could do better with our message next time, but I can assure the Deputy that we did not give the company more than it sought.