Mr. Adrian Neilan:

I thank Deputy Harris for the question. I want to put this in context, if I may. Bord na gCon has evolved its whole procurement cycle significantly. In 2008, a report was completed about Bord na gCon's prior practices, on the back of a procurement cycle that fell through and cost the board over €2 million in legal fees. It documented significant issues around catering from 2001. Bord na gCon has moved on quite a bit from that. Furthermore, and more importantly, we have reduced our operating expenses by 46%, our administration costs have come down by 40% and our employee costs have come down by 32%. We are totally focused on cost management and giving the best value possible to the industry so that we can invest in that industry going forward.

We had two people in roles dealing with this specific issue. They were asked to take on a procurement role but unfortunately it has emerged that there were 11 instances with which the Comptroller and Auditor General was not happy, in terms of our procurement cycle. We have accepted that completely. That was flagged to us in April of this year. On foot of that, we went out and hired a procurement officer who is properly qualified in the area. That person is now charged with making sure that everything we do in Bord na gCon is done properly.