Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

We have issues reported to us as a result of the internal audit system. On the legal fees, we communicated to the authorities that they should be tendering for legal services. We have actually re-communicated that this week. We have got updates from those concerned in that regard. We have reviewed the legal fees being charged and have corresponded with the committee in that regard.

We must remember that the ETBs themselves, with their own corporate governance structures, are the entities that must decide for themselves. We cannot be on top of them with all their decision-making processes but, when we are informed about an issue, we can consider a collective approach, as was done regarding legal fees within the ETB sector. We cannot be on the shoulder of the ETBs while they are making a decision on what point on a scale a member of staff should be on. I refer to where a person might appeal a wrong decision through the relevant appeals process and obtain a settlement. We have not the capacity to be the top of every decision every ETB makes, but we-----