Mr. Joe Tierney:

Our margin remains at the 6% we have always enjoyed. The contract has changed slightly but remains fair to the agent. There are now two types of contracts in place. A new agent is required to pay a €5,000 bond. Previously, a new agent had to pay a €10,000 bond. The second contract previously provided that an existing agent pay a deposit equal to two and a half times the average based over ten weeks but under the new contract this has been reduced to one and a half times the average over ten weeks. The week now starts on a Sunday morning and ends on a Saturday. While the cash flow does not remain with the store for too long, it reduces the amount on which the bond would be based.

Training in relation to the new terminals was very comprehensive. Every agent was requested to attend one of the 17 training venues. Those who could not attend were provided with one-on-one training by lottery representatives. The biggest problem when the system went live was the number of people contacting the help-desk for activation codes. Despite all of the preparation in this regard some issues arose on the morning in question. The national lottery had engaged with other lottery agents worldwide and knew what to expect and had extra people in place in the early days. The real grievance was that when the crash occurred there did not appear to be enough people manning the help desk and enough information was not getting out. The CSNA had sent a text message to all its members based on the most up-to-date information from the lottery, which was that the system was back up and running. Unfortunately, as soon as we had done that the system crashed again. All credibility in terms of sending out further texts was minimised at that stage.

I have had the privilege of being a member of the lottery users council. I know how difficult it was for the national lottery when as the numbers appeared online again, the system crashed again. I understand that a decision was made about 4 p.m. on the day to roll-over that game to the next day, if the system and regulator so permitted. I am privileged in that I have this information having been a member of the National Lottery Users Council. This has been a helpful instrument in us getting information to CSNA members.

We feel there has been very good transparency from the lottery about problems and otherwise. The main issue as to whether the right machinery was bought at the right price is not something we are privy to.