Mr. Tony Keohane:

I will reply to the questions but not in the order they have been raised.

Ervia has accountability for both Irish Water and Gas Networks Ireland. The board, that I hope I will be chairing, will have accountability for both of those outlets. It will operate under the governance or objectives set by the shareholder whatever they are and however they may change. The job of the board is to run the company under the objectives that have been set by the shareholder. I am aware there may be feedback to change some of that in the near or medium term, and so be it if there is. We will have to operate under the objectives set by the shareholder.

In terms of my international experience, I have spent all of my working life in retail. I started on the ground floor and worked my way up to board level first in Quinnsworth that was then taken over by Tesco. I moved to the UK for a couple of years as part of the Tesco transition period. When I came back to Ireland, I set up the distribution and property arms of Tesco Ireland here and then became the CEO. I have spent all of my career in a retail environment. I also sat on the operating board of Tesco UK for a period. My work experience has been steeped in retail.