Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our guests and thank them for their forbearance in this somewhat truncated appearance before the Committee of Public Accounts. I welcome the fact they have been given a clear audit opinion for 2015, with a number of highlighted items, which I would like to briefly touch upon.

In one particular instance in Mr. Waters's opening statement, he said the Comptroller and Auditor General outlined that it was unreasonable for the Department to rely on the legal advice provided on the purchase of a property on Wolfe Tone Street, Dublin 1. I appreciate Mr. Waters's earlier remarks that the matter has been subject to Comptroller and Auditor General reports in the past and is now broadly settled with the exception of the planning permission issue. It is mentioned that assurances were provided by the vendor. In the due diligence, which any person would complete, did Mr. Waters seek in-house or external advice on the purchase of the property? Will he outline to the committee when the planning permission issues will be resolved or have they have been resolved in terms of the occupation and use of the property?

On foot of the response to that question, is there any possibility of come-back on the basis of flawed advice which, effectively, have resulted in a very significant sum of money being paid by the taxpayer to resolve the matter?