Mr. Ted Owens:

As I stated, we have tendered for legal services and we hope this will bring about a better commercial outcome. However, what I did when I was appointed was review the cases and engage with people, including people at the rights commissioner, Labour Court, High Court and Supreme Court levels. I engaged and met people because I believe that fresh perspective can help in these cases and I am glad to say that these cases have now been resolved to everybody's satisfaction. The legal costs and settlements, as the Deputy noted, were high and approximately 71% of the costs over that period were incurred in defending employment related cases. I am a great believer in trying to ensure that these cases do not go to court and I have tried to instil that culture in our human resources department. I am also a great believer in trying to use the State resolution measures to try to ensure disputes do not end up in costly litigation.