Mr. Robert Watt:

We worked with the relevant office - that is, the Office of Government Procurement, OGP - on drawing up contracts. A number of issues arise and I will ask Mr. Quinn to contribute after I have given my view on them. I do not necessarily agree with the characterisation of this as a botched job. It is not fair to say that due diligence was not carried out. The issue was whether Galway Airport had a licence to provide the service over the period of the contract. The airport was contacted for a check and confirmed that it had a licence. It did not tell us at the time that the licence would expire at the end of this year. The tender documentation that was submitted did not say the airport would not have a licence beyond the end of 2015. During the clarification stages of the contract, it was not made clear to us either that this was an issue.

When one enters into a contract, the requirements on the prospective provider of the service are clear. An obligation was on the airport to ensure that it was compliant and in a position to provide us with the service. It was asked and did not tell us. It had an opportunity to do so in the tender documentation. One cannot check everything. One cannot walk down the runway checking for potholes and kicking the tyres of the aeroplane. There is only so much that we can do. When we procure electricity from ESB, we do not check to see whether the turbines are working. We take it that ESB is in a position to provide us with the service - namely, that it is licensed to provide power and its turbines are working.

Due diligence was undertaken, but we should have been told that the airport was not in a position to-----