Mr. Mark Griffin:

I think Dr. McCormick clearly set out his perspective on the role DETI had in the project and the difficulties it experienced when he was before the Committee of Public Accounts in March. He acknowledged clearly that in terms of the day-to-day operation, DETI had responsibility for the authorisation of payments.

In fairness to my colleague in Northern Ireland and his Department, if we had been more hands-on at particular stages, things could have been different. I did not mention one point when I spoke about the revised letter of offer and Eircom coming into the equation as a project partner. This was something that needed to happen jointly between ourselves and DETI. If we had revised the letter of offer at that stage, not only would it have rendered funds potentially eligible for INTERREG funding but it would have significantly re-calibrated the cost of the project as well.

I maintain there is a responsibility on both departments. However, I am not going to put a percentage on the level of responsibility. There is a responsibility on both departments in terms of the management of the project which ultimately led to a loss from the Irish Exchequer's point of view of €506,000 that we contributed by way of matched funding to the project and the €1.762 million INTERREG funding that was withdrawn.

Deputy Nolan will forgive me if I do not give him a blunt answer to the question, but we both had culpability to a greater or lesser extent in terms of the management of this project.