Ms Louise McGirr:

To be helpful, we will send on a timeline indicating when the payments started following the Government decision and the process we went through in that regard. There was a period initially following the Government decision in which the criteria and practical implementation of the decision had to be designed. There was a lot of consultation with unions and worker representatives, which added to the time taken to ensure everybody who should be paid was covered. The process was developed in consultation and working in partnership with worker representatives and there was significant feedback from unions. That definitely delayed implementation but we had to do it in order to get the input of staff as to who would receive the payment.