Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

I wrote to the committee on this a couple of days ago in response to the Deputy's query. This matter was drawn to our attention as a result of the Comptroller and Auditor General's audit. We checked with the VEC and the VEC assures us that it did seek our approval but as I said in our correspondence, we cannot find that approval. A check is going on but I did not want to leave the correspondence unresponded to in terms of getting back to the Deputy. I said in the correspondence to the committee that, without prejudice to the outcome of the process in terms of finding out what went on, at the time the VEC made the decision to move, it was making the decision to move with a view to renting out the property it had. Obviously, that did not continue after the first couple of years. It is very unfortunate that it did not continue after the first couple of years. I do not think it could have foreseen that would be the case given that the economics changed at the time.