Ms Dee Forbes:

On the Deputy's first point on how this happened, I was as upset as everybody else at the way this happened. The information leaked. I do not know where that leak came from. We got a phone call at 7 p.m. from a newspaper outlet telling us that it had the plans. We had to get into action very quickly because our priority was our staff and nobody wants to read about their future on the front page of a newspaper. We did what we could very quickly. We spoke to people in Limerick and we spoke to the people affected in Dublin. The next morning we had a meeting with all staff to try to address as much as we could. Admittedly, this is not the way it should have happened and it certainly was not the way we had planned. That was regrettable from day one. Of course, there are ongoing discussions with the staff, but the detailed discussions, in terms of the consultation, begin on Friday. That is where we are in the process.