Mr. Martin Fraser:

I did not send the Chairman an opening statement. I spoke to the clerk yesterday and explained that. I presume that is okay. My opening remarks would be to refer the Chairman to my role in this area, which I set out in a letter to the committee outlining that I have several roles in the area of assignment of Secretaries General and so on. The committee has a copy of the minute I took of the meeting with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform, which was the meeting at which these matters were first discovered and which, ultimately, led to the process that has been recently completed. Between that letter and those minutes, that covers my role in it. I am conscious members will have many questions and I am happy to take their questions.