Professor Gerry Boyle:

I thank Deputy Deering. The first point I will explain about the operating surplus is that Teagasc does not aim ever to have a surplus. We are obliged to match expenditure with income. The second point is that attention should be focused on the surplus for the financial year, which is lower down the column on the page Deputy Deering is referring to, under note 11. The surplus declined from €6.152 million to €2.398 million. There is a simple reason for that. We do not expect, normally, to have a surplus, but in recent years we have had significant difficulty in trying to manage cashflow. We sought leave to put in place an overdraft facility but permission was not forthcoming from our parent Department or from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The decision was taken then to try to build up a capital reserve to be able to meet our recurrent capital requirements on a sustainable basis. In 2016, we were able, through prudent management, to generate such a surplus. I want to emphasise that would not be the norm-----