Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

There are two pension issues in respect of UCC. Anybody looking at these financial statements should understand what the liability is and that there is an assumption being made that the State will meet the pension liability. That is the second of the bullet points in the document the Chairman is reading.

There is a specific issue in Cork in respect of what is called pension added years. There was a dispute between the university and the Department in respect of liability for certain of those pension add-ons. The total value of meeting those liabilities is estimated at €15.7 million. Subsequent to the end of the period of account, an agreement was reached between the Department and UCC that they will meet those liabilities on a 50-50 basis. What the university has done is to recognise the liability and to present it on the basis that the Department would meet 100% of it. Because it is a post-balance sheet agreement, it should have been presented without that €15.7 million of an asset. It is a technical point. In the future, if the value were the same, half of it could be recognised because the Department has given an undertaking to meet that liability.