Mr. Denis Duggan:

I take the Senator's point. We increased the price of a foal passport at the beginning of the year. Historically, the passporting function has barely broken even. As Mr. Carroll outlined earlier, part of the reason for the increase was to generate more funding. There was a combination of things this year. The increase in the price of the passport brought us more in line with what other equine stud books charge. We had been below some of the other stud books in Ireland until we increased the price. In this year of all years, we were not entirely sure whether the market would continue to support our stud book or whether owners would move so we took a prudent approach with regard to staff replacement. Having said that, we have replaced those who have left but there is a lag between someone handing in his or her notice and a replacement beginning work. It must also be borne in mind that everyone who leaves the organisation, whether they have six months' or two years' experience, takes a level of institutional knowledge with them and that it takes some time before their replacement can operate at the same capacity, even if they come in the day the other person walks out the door.