Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

This is the first time I was faced with such a decision as a newly appointed Secretary General. Sometimes accounts get delayed. There is a process. The Comptroller and Auditor General sets out the obligations but there is a process. This committee must be informed that there is a delay, and we did that. To add, there was the general election and the absence of Government. They go to the Government on their way to being laid before the Oireachtas. Therefore, there was a significant period where there not an opportunity to bring the accounts to the Government if we were ready.