Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

Without getting into the eBay-style bidding-war comments, we paid out - again unusually but that was the way it had to be done - €81 million to new suppliers. To date, we have received value on just over €50 million of it, approximately 60%. We have either got a refund or, in one case, we received PPE to the value. Of the rest, we have not got value for approximately 10% and we will not get direct value for the health service. That amounts to approximately €8 million. Some €6.6 million of where we have not got direct value, we donated to five large medical schools in India and they have certainly got value out of it. However, we accept it was not a direct value to the Irish health service.

The balance is approximately €22 million, half of which we now have in payment plans or we are looking to finalise payment plans where we have gone through a legal or an arbitration plan or a bit of both. Of the remaining €10 million, we are about to enter a legal arbitration process. We think our case is good. We have to win the arbitration and then get a payment plan. We are not saying we will get that €22 million but we are pursuing it in the interest of the State.