Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The significant point is in regard to No. 4.2, St. Angela’s College Sligo Limited. Apart from the fairly standard recognition of a deferred pension funding asset by the college, which is standard for third level education bodies, the college discloses that it applies a minimum threshold of €50,000 for advertising of contracts for supplies and services, rather than the threshold of €25,000 set in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidelines. The committee will recall that a similar issue arose with University College Dublin, which was applying a €60,000 threshold. My recollection is that at one stage €50,000 was the former threshold level but it was reduced to €25,000 by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in 2010. St. Angela’s has not brought down the threshold.