Mr. Tom O'Mahony:

This was never an issue about being unhappy with how the money was spent. Each of the contracts it has, such as the public service obligation contracts, which we fund through the National Transport Authority, and school transport, which the committee has discussed in detail with my colleague, is governed by performance measures.

These are scrutinised in detail. It was an issue about how the money was being spent. The issue was that the solvency of the company was suddenly threatened because of losses incurred and not having the cash management facilities and the overdraft facilities in place. To deal with that situation, the Department and NewERA, with the agreement of the Government, set up a group which met initially on a monthly basis. It meets less frequently now because it does not need to meet monthly. New people were appointed in the CIE group to deal with the financial function which was greatly upgraded on foot of the Deloitte recommendations. Every month the Department, with representatives of NewERA, met to go through the latest financial figures from CIE, to see how CIE was getting on in the negotiations with its lenders, to look at the likely cash position, and to look at what assistance it would require. Over a period of time that resolved the problem and put CIE in a position to satisfy the bankers, which it previously could not do, that it could be a safe bet to have an increase in its overdraft facility because that overdraft facility had been limited at €107 million-----