Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

When the board was before the committee and the Deputy asked that specific question, the answer she got was that there were no triggers. Subsequently in correspondence, the board acknowledged that there in fact were triggers. This is what the board refers to when speaking about subsectional works and liquidated damages in respect of such works. There are certain aspects of the project that, if not finished on time, could have triggered claims. However, the board also said that it had not submitted those claims and did not feel that doing so would have strategically been the appropriate action to take.

I sympathise with the committee's members, and I am not very familiar with these terms either, but we have examined the contract. It is something we are examining again in the context of the 2021 financial statements. The audit is just coming to completion. Two of the elements we are examining are commitments, figures, the amounts the board is contractually obliged to pay - the board has to make a disclosure in that regard - and the number of claims that have been lodged against contingent liabilities. These are key issues in the finalisation of the 2021 financial statements.