Ms Susan Kearney:

We avail of the services of a tax expert to get advice on a range of tax matters, including VAT compliance, issues around sales of properties, and issues around the various types of activities in which we are involved. We are involved in a range of activities which have different VAT statuses. Our research activities and the advisory services we provide to farmers, as compared with the advisory services we provide to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, have different statuses. Tax compliance is a very high priority in Teagasc so we avail of expert advice to ensure that we maintain compliance. We would also take other financial advice from time to time. That figure would not be entirely for tax advice, but tax would be a main component of it.