Mr. Dermot Nolan:

I agree Deputy and I will try to explain it. I said we had been being given responsibilities in the area of petroleum safety. This was done in an Act a number of years ago. Essentially we have to set up an entire framework to regulate safety in offshore petroleum activities at Kinsale, Corrib etc. That requires the development of a whole new framework and various expenditures. We are not allowed to levy anybody. The law prevented us from levying anybody until we set a levy which will be in the next couple of months. For a two to three period we were in a situation where we needed to fund activities to set up this important framework but we could not levy. When this happened previously, to respond to the Deputy's earlier comment as to whether we got any money from the Exchequer, we asked whether a loan could be granted in advance. This was not possible given the financial circumstances this time. Therefore, we were left with no choice but to borrow from the NTMA and we got permission from both Departments to do so. We borrowed from the NTMA for a two year period because the Act makes it clear that money we take in from those who supply electricity can only be used for electricity. We cannot use it for any activities relating to, say, petroleum safety. In that sense we are in a bind and the only way out of it was a commercial loan. I agree it is not a great place to be in but we will be in a position to recover it and will be in a position to levy.