Mr. John Kelly:

One of the things we have looked at very closely since this whole episode has been the system of risk management in the university. There has been a fundamental risk register in the university, as is required, for many years. It contained a large number of risks but, in our view, and having reflected on Rhebogue, it did not reflect the most significant and important risk to a university, which is its reputation as a credential institution. Our fundamental risk register now, therefore, looks at these matters very carefully.

In the case of Rhebogue, it is all very well to have a fundamental risk register, but when somebody is progressing a transaction and taking it through, that person must have at the forefront of their mind what are the risks in relation to the transaction for the university, bearing in mind the risks on the fundamental risk register. I think people do not sometimes make the connections between the actions they are taking at a point in time and what the fundamental risks are and this was possibly a factor in the Rhebogue situation.

In that situation, my recollection is that the risks were in relation to cohesion in the community where the Rhebogue development was located and how the people there would react to having students in a close-knit community. Of course, that was a risk, but there were other risks pertinent to that transaction, including, for example, risks in relation to planning. As the Deputy will know, the situation with the planning is before An Bord Pleanála. It is uncertain how that will go. It may be a case where the planning application may be approved but it may not, and that would leave the university in a difficult situation.

The issue internally was that there was no visibility by the decision-making bodies of those risks at all. A judgment call was made in relation to those risks and it was represented that, essentially, the planning was in order. There were other issues as well, as the Deputy will know, in relation to the valuation methodologies and they formed part of the risk framework in this transaction. Again, the governing authority did not have that information available to it at the point at which it made a decision.