Mr. Michael Finn:

A little more than 3,800 people have indicated that they wish us to pursue an appeal on their behalf and the Courts Service has indicated that these appeals will be scheduled for December. It is an ongoing process. We initially wrote to almost 8,500 people. We identified another 2,000 while the process was under way and I have written to them also. I expect the number who wish to pursue an appeal to increase as people take stock of the letter we sent and receive advice from their solicitor on whether to pursue the matter. As I said, 3,800 have indicated that they wish us to pursue it. There are many people we have not managed to contact. We initially wrote to them by registered post. The letters have now been sent to local Garda stations for efforts to be made to contact them. We have tracked down almost 1,500 people by chasing up the letters and going door to door to ask whether people have moved house and, if so, ascertain a subsequent address for them. The process is by no means finished, but a tremendous amount of work has been done. When I started this process in April, we went back to the very start and widened the scope in order that we would be guaranteed not to miss anything. We examined every case where there was even a possibility of a person having received the wrong letter or having been prosecuted erroneously. I think 99% of relevant cases have been identified. It is a big process which is taking a considerable amount of our time and court time, but considerable progress is being made.