Mr. Peter Tyndall:

We had good access to records and to the people administering the scheme. We had a series of meetings with senior officials. There were telephone calls with senior officials. The notion that if we had one or two more conversations we would have reached a separate conclusion is not realistic. There was a fundamental disagreement. We took the view that these women indisputably worked in the laundries that were part of this scheme and lived in the convents in which those laundries were located, and there is a complete refusal to accept that point of view reflected in the correspondence. That correspondence is the culmination of a lengthy engagement with the Department. It is not a one-off. We remain firmly of the view that the way the criterion was interpreted was the reason the women were excluded, and it need not have been interpreted in that way.

On the other issues, we were not seeking to make criticism of the individuals who were engaging with the women. That is not the nature of the report. It is about the administration of the scheme. There were sources of evidence available other than the ones that were used and they should have been accessed. That is the point. Agreement has now been reached to access those sources of information.