Mr. Richard Scannell:

As regards the review, a decision will be taken by the Department - by the Minister - following the conclusion of the contract. That is all I am in a position to inform the committee of at the moment. The review will be undertaken after the contract concludes.

Generally, on the question of what happens to the programme after its conclusion, when the contracts were originally agreed, it was never envisaged that the contract would run in perpetuity. The contract was for a set period. It was extended for the maximum amount of time and a further extension was granted to effect an orderly wind-down of the contract. That is now coming to an end. It was not envisaged, unfortunately, that this would run for ever. It was to run for a set period and the decision has now been made to undertake a review so that we know where we stand, exactly what the programme has contributed and what are the results. A longer-term decision will then be made as to its future.