Mr. John McMahon:

I will try to go backwards through all of that. The medical provision relates to on-site medical care. There are hospitals in the general vicinity. It was expected that we would have a crowd of 500,000 or more in the Phoenix Park alone. It did not work out that way in the end. I am talking about the prediction before the event took place. We also had to provide on-site medical facilities at the other nine or ten venues where we were involved in logistical arrangements for the papal visit. It was not just the Phoenix Park where we had to make this provision. It was also needed at the State apartments at Dublin Castle, the papal city route, St. Mary's Pro Cathedral, the Capuchin Day Centre and other locations, particularly Knock. These on-site medical costs were required. It turned out to be a very wet day. I was personally quite concerned about slips, trips and falls on such a wet day. I have been told that there were a couple of small injuries, but we were very lucky that there was nothing significant. No bones were broken anyway.

The OPW had no involvement in the issuing of tickets for the event. That was handled by the Catholic Church as part of the World Meeting of Families. All of the ticketing arrangements were done by the World Meeting of Families as the event organisers.