Mr. Gerry Lynskey:

No. Between 1998 and 2003 there were massive development efforts, not only by our two companies but also by four others, to do what the Department had asked us to do. We never received complaints about the standards applied. To be fair, the other companies seemed to be doing a good job also. Eventually, however, they gave up in the past ten years. One by one, they dropped out. We took a commercial view that it would be worth our while making this investment in software development to link with the Department because it would increase our attractiveness to farmers. As Mr. Lynch mentioned, we traipsed up and down roads and boreens in rural Ireland, often with a PC in the back of a car, to train farmers in the use of the software, at no cost to the State. Many of those who are now using the systems of the Department, the ICBF and Teagasc are doing so successfully because of the IT training they received from private sector companies in the 1990s.