Mr. John Moran:

I have not decided what I am doing. The last time I left for six months, I stayed away for six years. This was an important issue for me and perhaps this is why it is a little unusual as an approach. I took the view, given the role I had and the number of conflicts that would have existed in respect of any discussions about what the future held, that it was critical for me and the system that I would not engage in an exercise of negotiating a contract or taking part in any other discussions about what I might do next. From this perspective, whether it is a public sector or a private sector role and whether it is in Ireland or elsewhere, I can genuinely tell the committee that I have no specific plans or no definite preferences at this stage. It will take a given time to put in place a successor and it was equally important for me that there was not a vacuum in the Department at such a critical time. Anyway, it seemed that this was an opportune time to leave because it will allow the successor time to get his or her feet under the desk in advance of the budget coming at the end of the year, which is in fact the next critical issue.