Ms Shirley Comerford:

There was ongoing discussion with all parties involved. I was not privy to the discussion in respect of who made that exact decision and I cannot answer that. From the Public Appointments Service's perspective, this was not something we would have sought or around which we would have felt particularly strongly. We can understand the rationale and perspective that was put forward to us in that regard. Mr. Collins covered this quite well in his submission, as did Ms McMahon. It was about ensuring there is an aspiration that the people who work in the public sector are reflective of the society of which they are members. In that vein and certainly from our perspective we would not have an issue and do not see this as diminishing-----