Mr. Brian Patterson:

He was indeed, thank you. And five members of the authority, plus him, making six in all, became a sub-committee of the authority to make the recommendation to the authority. We interviewed ... I chaired that process. We interviewed the four or five candidates on the short list; we split the group of six into two. They both independently interviewed the candidates, we then came together to discuss what we had seen. There was a lot of discussion, as inevitably there should be, and eventually a consensus emerged that in the case of Pat Neary, that he was the best person available to do the job. That recommendation was made to the authority, which approved it unanimously and it was then given to the Minister for formal approval.