Mr. Brian Purcell:

It is not all that unusual for oral briefings to take place. The very fact that the Minister sent a letter to the confidential recipient meant he was aware of what was there. There would have been some discussions at the time. It is not always the case that a written submission will go up.

One of the outcomes of any situation such as this is that anyone, on seeing anything to do with the matter crossing their desk, will say, “Look at that. Would I normally send it up? Maybe not, but I am not taking any chances in this instance.” This leads to a massive increase in the number of things flying up the line. That is an understandable reaction to the situation in which we found ourselves of late regarding these matters.