Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the witnesses and thank them for their time and for their opening statements. It certainly is a complex issue. It is something of a mess at the moment and there is obviously quite a legal wrangle going on which is going to have an impact in terms of the liquidation and the way that claimants will be dealt with as part of this process. First, I will go through some of the issues with the liquidator, Mr. Mercieca. The statement of affairs which the company prepared initially in April of last year showed a deficiency of about €17 million. If we go forward to page three of his statement, the picture seems to have changed considerably, with the outstanding claims reserve at €28 million. Does Mr. Mercieca have an estimate now, in terms of liabilities versus assets, of what the deficiency is likely to be compared to the estimate of €17 million almost a year ago?