Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

What I was drawing attention to in the audit opinion was the disclosure by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, CDETB, as it is now known, that there had been an overpayment totalling about €4 million in student grants, including maintenance grants. There are a couple of elements making up this overpayment. Approximately €1.9 million was paid in maintenance grants to students already in receipt of the back to education allowance. Where a student receives the back to education allowance, he or she is not entitled to receive grant payments. In addition, €653,000 was paid in fee grants to postgraduate students to which they were not entitled, while €1.2 million was paid in fees and maintenance grants to students who did not have citizenship eligibility. There was a figure of €310,000 identified which was paid in respect of students who were initially eligible, but the money was an overpayment because they were not attending their course or withdrew from it.