Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Yes, the key requirement in the circular from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is that accounts should not be held back from the committee and that they should be promptly submitted. Three months is generally taken as the time allowed from when I sign the certificate until the accounts are laid in the Oireachtas Library. If there are circumstances where this cannot be done the obligation is then on the Department to explain why not and to do so spontaneously rather than the accounts arriving six months late, nobody giving an explanation and the committee having to chase it up. That is the point I am making.