Mr. Tom Boland:

At the very least, it is certainly not an attractive picture at all, and we accept that. However, one has to bear in mind the context, namely, that the HEA does not act as an auditor. In our oversight and accountability role for all the higher education institutions, we rely on the processes and procedures that we put in place to ensure accountability. Key to those processes and procedures is an annual statement of governance, which is signed off by the chief executive of an institution and the chair of the governing body and which either assures us that everything is in order in the college or, if things are not in order, outlines the detail and what exactly is being done about it. Overall, during the years the Deputy mentioned, the HEA was receiving statements from the college that it was abiding by the code of governance. We relied upon those statements in relation to NCAD, as we do for all the institutions.