Mr. Dave Walsh:

As I said to Deputy MacSharry, there is nothing more frustrating than having a new deadline and then not meeting it. Certainly we have learned that we do not want to offer something we cannot actually deliver. We have improved our overall compliance levels. It used to take on average between 22.5 and 23 weeks to decide all cases. Cases were not decided within 18 weeks, but they did not go to far beyond that figure. We have brought it down to 19.5 weeks. In the vast majority of cases where parties do not receive a decision within 18 weeks, they receive one very soon afterwards. We are setting very realistic deadlines that we know we can meet, but there are always cases where-----