Professor Brian Norton:

Neither the governing board was happy, nor was I happy. As I said earlier, we had provided the Ernst & Young report to the Comptroller and Auditor General and Higher Education Authority. We had fully discussed it with the HEA. It was the external review that is alluded to in the covering letter signed by myself that was sent with the report we sent last July to the committee. With hindsight, because it gives an impression that things were being concealed, we should have provided it. That is self-evident now but we were not actually asked for a report. We were asked the circumstances and what measures we have taken.

The EY report does not discuss the measures we took. What we have provided is the fullest report of the issues and what we have done about them. That is actually what we were requested to provide. With hindsight, frankly, I agree. I have no problem in making sure that was supplied. We had supplied it previously. Incidentally, we supplied it over a year ago as an FOI request to RTE. We have made no attempt whatsoever to conceal it but we should have provided it here. I accept that totally.