Mr. John McKeon:

I might ask my colleague, Mr. Daly, to comment, but I will say a few words first. Generally, decisions on debt are taken by deciding officers, who act independently in the exercise of their functions. They make the decisions in two circumstances, the first of which is at the point an overpayment becomes known. In such a case, the deciding officer has to decide whether to apply the correct rate of payment from the current date. For example, if I know that Deputy McAuliffe was overpaid, I will adjust his payment rate. This approach is forward looking only and does not raise a debt in respect of the historical payments.