Mr. Gerry Quinn:

We have acknowledged the deficiency in terms of not having operated to a form of best practice - one which did not exist in the public service generally, so it was not that we were ignoring anything that existed - in a period of unprecedented growth, as I have outlined, dealing with operational risk, as the HR director has outlined. In hindsight, we all would have liked to have that in place in order that we could have come before the committee today and said that everything was pristine in terms of the documentation, etc. What I and Ms Joyce are saying is that, notwithstanding the issue in respect of documentation - which we have fully accepted and addressed - in each of the cases involved, we believe the outcomes achieved were the best possible outcomes that could be realised in the circumstances.