Ms Katherine Licken:

I want to clarify that Solas entered into the second contract without the knowledge of the Department even though that was specifically a requirement of our contract with Solas, that we would have to sign off on the contract. When we became aware of it, we indicated that we would not pay any more money on the contract because we knew the contract it had entered into exceeded the amount that was available for the project.

We told Solas that it would need to find additional sources of funding if the project was to proceed and we were to make more payments. It was at this point Element Pictures became a partner in the project. Following agreement on a revised funding model, the second contract proceeded and the next payment was made on 3 May 2013.