Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

I am trying to go through the range of supports and come round to answering the Deputy's question on whether the committee should have confidence. I will answer it in steps, if that is all right. The Department is supported by an internal audit service that has had challenges. It has engaged staff, but staff have moved on to other careers in the buoyant labour market for accountants. It is engaging external supports at the moment and seeking to recruit further. It is supported by the role of ETBI in procurement and training. Should that be an absolute assurance? I do not think so. As the Accounting Officer I am equally concerned.

I have to work further to ensure that the governance is in place and is tested appropriately and we are still looking at ways of doing that. I have talked through, in the background statement and the opening statement, a range of additional changes we put in place. The question is, when we do all of those, are they still going to add to it.

The internal audit service is, again, following up on procurement in the ETB. Would I have absolute confidence?