Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

I am mainly relying on the board papers and its minutes for an indication of the matters discussed and the decisions that were taken. We redid many of the calculations contained in the paper for the board meeting of 12 December. At first sight, it seems to have covered most of the issues that needed to be considered. When a board is presented with a paper, its function is to analyse it, to challenge it and question it and the minutes should record the flavour of the discussion as well as the decisions and the basis for those decisions. We found that there were differences in the way the paper was presented to the board, including in the way the 5.5% discount rate was applied, which had an effect on the values that came out of the analysis.

That is not flagged to the board, about which there is concern.

Deputies have mentioned the qualifications and experience of board members. They are very well qualified to deal with an issue such as this when presented to them. The main meeting at which the matter was discussed was held on 12 December. That was a normal meeting of the board. There was then a special meeting on 8 January to consider the process for how the sale should proceed.