Mr. Gerard Cahillane:

The certification process is a statutory process and I assure the Deputy we are not circumventing that. After the last meeting, we sought legal advice and provided a summary of that legal advice to the Deputy. We could not provide the legal advice itself because it is privileged. Deputy Doherty, or one of his colleagues, mentioned that there is a threat of a legal case against the State in this regard, so we could not provide the full legal advice. We are happy that that legal advice is correct. While anybody can take a case against the State, we believe the chance of such a case succeeding is weak.

There is a second point I want to make regarding that process. When we enter into a contract under the PPP code, we are transferring that risk to the private sector to manage. The taxpayer pays for that risk. It is not reasonable to expect the taxpayer now to take back that risk and pay for it again.