Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I thank the Deputy. I understand absolutely his opening remarks about the importance of transparency. Not having been there but having read the various reports and having had access to the internal organisation, it is my opinion – I stress, my opinion – that there was a degree of non-strategic recklessness, if I can put it that way, about the rapid expansion of the organisation in terms of new projects and geographical reach. Internally, there were insufficient controls that enabled the then board to have a full understanding of the financial basis on which various bids were put in. The Deputy used the term “underbidding” and I think it is a fair term. There were unmatched costs, to use the public sector jargon. That was possible because the board did not have access to sufficient information at the time. It was not provided with that information. That comes through in the regulatory reports.

The new board, to which we are adding four additional members this evening at our AGM, has a much broader range of experience outside just the charitable sector and has put in place processes that are contemporary governance standards so nothing gets approved by the board without full transparency. Obviously, the board is very conscious of the legacy the trust has had but Mr. Mulligan and his colleagues have also worked very hard, together with the new director of corporate services, to make sure that the board is fully informed. In addition to that, we have new external auditors, who were not the ones in place at that time, and we have very direct and ongoing engagement with our regulators and with the Department of housing through the oversight groups. The whole series of checks and balances have been put in place reflect the failings of the past and seek to avoid them.