Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I was attempting to explain. On the record of Dáil Éireann in 1996 the Minister of the day indicated that it was in order for section 38 bodies to pay additional sums from funds they obtained from sources other than the State. In a number of instances, that statement and other issues were referenced and it was necessary for us in the first instance to be able to proceed to gain a clear statement of current public pay policy. That was requested of the Department of Health. Staff in the Department engaged with colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and on receipt of the statement of policy, the process of seeking to address those instances which were now clearly outside of the current policy began to be addressed.