Mr. John Murphy:

It was December. It was actually the last day of November and we received it in early December. It was not a new statement and it was not new material. All of the material had been with all of the relevant bodies, including the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, the Revenue Commissioners, the Moriarty and Mahon tribunals and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. It is a substantial body of material which requires to be carefully examined. There was an issue about a shortage of people, not just of officers in the Department, but of somebody with exactly the right background and skills that knew the context in which the material had been provided and would be in a position to review it. It is a matter of regret that it was not processed as quickly as it might have been or should have been. I have no difficulty in saying that.

One must also understand the volume and complexity of what we were trying to deliver in that particular part of the Department. The receipt of the statement and supporting documentation exactly coincided with finalising the Companies Bill. We had to put together a large team, for example, just to proofread the document, which contained more than 1,000 sections. It coincided with the beginning of a very busy EU Presidency. Our Department had the largest role in the 2013 EU Presidency, because we directly service Council formations across a number of areas including competitiveness, research and employment. We had an extremely busy workload at that time, not just in the immediate division but also across the rest of the Department. Ms Breda Power is from the division and can confirm that. The Minister referred to a number of the things we have been seeking to deliver in that period.