Mr. Ian Drennan:

I was appointed in August 2012 and one of the first things I did, having come from another organisation, was an analysis or assessment, which was only my opinion, of the ODCE's capacity in terms of the resources at its disposal to discharge its functions to the standard I would like. One of the key conclusions I arrived at was the need for far more accountancy expertise. At the time we had one in-house accountant. Perhaps I look at that perspective because that is my profession but, ultimately, everything we do comes down to numbers and transactions. In my assessment an organisation carrying out that type of work cannot function if it does not have people who understand those transactions and the way accountants, auditors and businesses operate. I had a discussion with the Department. I sent in a proposal at the time and that subsequently evolved into hiring some of the people here now.

As I said earlier, I have met with nothing but supportive attitudes from any Minister I have dealt with in that respect. As a consequence, these people are here now. For me it is not about more people or bodies but the right people and bodies. Broadly speaking, we have the same head count as when I was appointed, but the profile of the organisation is different in terms of its staff complement and the capabilities, backgrounds, experiences and willingness of staff to accept risk. In fairness to the people who were there at the time some of these things happened, some of them ended up being at the business end of risks that they probably never envisaged when they were appointed ten years prior to that, whereas the people who are appointed now fully understand the risks involved. They will confirm that. I have interviewed them all and the conversation we have is about whether they understand the risks that are attached to doing this type of work and whether they are prepared to take on those risks. It is the same numbers but the composition is very different.