Ms Clare McGrath:

As I said, the capital programmes continued in this period. It is not as if they were in abeyance. I am putting my hands up and admitting that this group should have stated in 2009 that it was going into recess while it awaited a detailed CFRAM analysis, the hydraulic modelling and the results of surveying. It should have stated it would come back after all the things that needed to happen and for which the OPW was responsible had been done. In 2006 the group was asked to do certain things with regard to planning guidelines, policy on flood warning and the review of hydrometric analysis. These things had been done by that time. The group should have stated the key next stage was delivery. I appreciate that the other group was the national steering group. There were advisory steering groups and progress groups for each of the six CFRAM study areas, the 29 draft flood risk management plans and the 300 areas to be subject to further assessment.

There were 160 of those meetings in the period when the other groups were in abeyance. At a meeting, that group should have declared that, as its key outputs had been achieved, the OPW was responsible for the delivery of the survey. I accept that.