Mr. Antoine Mac Donncha:

Although the head was reasonably straightforward it threw out some issues that needed to be negotiated very carefully with the Attorney General’s office. Preparing it for the deadline of 31 December is one thing but we have to wait for the next vehicle, or legislation, to which it can be attached. It is travelling with this legislation on its own rather than wait for a vehicle to come along. That is partly why there is a gap.

We have been liaising with the European Commission. The legislation is a commitment in the restructuring plan to enable any onward sale but in the run-up to Christmas there was no immediate, pressing prospect of a sale of the ICS platform so there was no particular reason to have the legislation in place to facilitate that.