Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

To put it in context, the figure works out at approximately 2.6% of the total amount the VEC paid out. Obviously, it is a complex system of payment. The controls are exclusively within Student Universal Support Ireland and the City of Dublin Education and Training Board and subject to audit by us. The CDETB would also have its own internal audit unit which would check these matters. The payment of €1.9 million to individuals in receipt of the back to education allowance would have come to light when the CDETB received a set of data from the Department of Social Protection which threw up this anomaly when it was matched with its own data set.