Mr. Justice Rory MacCabe:

To give an example of it, in a previous incarnation, I spent some time dealing with our colleagues in Northern Ireland during the peace talks. One thing that was very frustrating as far as colleagues in Northern Ireland were concerned was that while they were all members of the EU at that stage, they did not have direct access to it and had to go through Whitehall. They always felt as if they were going with their begging bowls to Whitehall which then processed the application for funding to Europe. They resented that. The situation with GSOC is that it does not have its own Vote. That means GSOC has to apply to the Department of Justice which passes the application on, having applied whatever filter it thinks is appropriate, to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform or the Department of Finance. Having one's own Vote means one simply has direct access and control of one's own Vote.