Ms Hilary Murphy-Fagan:

It was understood that there was a level of complexity, but we are talking about 48 different Departments and offices that do not currently have a single chart of accounts. They do not operate on the same standard chart of accounts. That was one aspect of complexity, but the other aspect we underestimated was the move to introduce accrual accounting. We designed a chart of accounts, but it was not designed sufficiently to allow us to bring accrual accounting live. That decision was taken by Government in 2019, so it followed the decision in 2016 when we started this programme.

The Deputy asked where else the costs arose. Additional requirements emerged. For example, legislation relating to the GDPR was enacted in 2018. While it was on the horizon, we did not fully understand the complexity of operating a master supply or database and making sure that supplier data from each Department and office was protected. There was an awful lot more complexity than was originally envisaged which I do not believe anybody could have anticipated at that point in time.

On cybersecurity, I am sure the Deputy and the committee are aware that it is an area that is constantly changing and evolving. We always have to respond to and be ahead of that. We also had to invest significantly more in cyberspace than we would have originally understood and could have anticipated in 2015 and 2016 when the original Government decision was taken.