Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The issue is relatively simple. A draft set of financial statements is presented to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit. In an ideal world, the systems within the organisation would produce a set of financial statements that would not need any change thereafter, but we do not live in an ideal world and changes happen. We want to ensure that when a set of financial statements are presented, they give a true and fair view. Of course, organisations are allowed to make changes and we would require them to make changes. If they do not do something, that leads to a set of financial statements not giving a true and fair view, for which we give a qualification.

There were difficulties with this particular set of financial statements. The audit was signed off at the end of June, and as I understand it, they are with the Department and will be presented in due course.