Ms Sharon Finegan:

I do not really have anything further to say other than that we developed the methodology that we used for that random sample with the CSO to be sure that it was truly representative and that it was a robust methodology. We selected the number of 300 using advice from political scientists as to what was an accurate sample size. We did get duplication but, as the chair has stated, people went to the trouble of making those submissions and we got many written submissions through the post. There were up to 5,000 through the post. Someone had taken the trouble to get an envelope and put a stamp on it. Therefore, we treated each one individually, even if they were duplicates, because of the trouble that person had taken. The various mechanisms that the chair has outlined show that we did use them as much as we possibly could.