Mr. John Barry:

I wish to clarify for the Deputy that all our procurement is in accordance with EU procurement rules and our own policies. I clarified that point last night. For example, our submission gave details of two companies that received legal fees as part of this project. Those companies were taken from the Bord Gáis Éireann legal panel, which was openly tendered a couple of years ago, and this would probably be replicated in a number of the lists that the Deputy has seen. I do not have the details to hand but I can get them for the Deputy. The benefit was that BGÉ panels were in place and we could draw from them in order to mobilise the project very quickly.

If we could park the bonus aspect, I wish to give the committee a brief explanation of how performance management is operated in Bord Gáis and how it will operate in Irish Water. A high-performing utility such as this requires three planks: people, process and technology. We outlined in great detail last night our investment in the technology and the process. The people are the third plank and a high-performing utility needs people who are motivated and are out performing against the targets that are set for them. The main driver is that they are content in their work, that their talent pool is managed and that they have the ability to move sideways or upwards in the organisation. I have done a lot of work on this aspect over the past few years and in my view it results in great staff motivation.