Professor Nick Hardwick:

As the Chair said, we did not have a statutory function. In the end, we were clear that the publication of the report was ultimately a matter for the Oberstown board. We are not going to go off course and do something ourselves. We have been very discreet about it. We will put up with it but we would not have entered into the contract if we had not had agreement that the report would be published. We gave assurances to the people we were dealing with that it would be. When we were interviewing people and talking to them, we told them in good faith that is what would happen.