Mr. John McKeon:

The EWSS was operated by the Revenue Commissioners. It was funded by our Vote but it was operated by the Revenue Commissioners. We operate on the basis of an undertaking from the Revenue Commissioners that they have run the scheme properly. I do not have the level of insight that the Deputy requires. In terms of the general position around dividends, it does grab the headlines and so on that firms got the benefit of the wage subsidy scheme and then paid a dividend. There is some context around that. Some firms would be obliged to pay dividends based on a memorandum and articles of association. They might even need to borrow to pay for them. It is not necessarily the case of payment of dividends themselves.

The other thing that needs to be borne in mind is that the purpose of the wage subsidy scheme was to help to keep people on the employer payroll. To the extent that it helped to keep people on the employer payroll and we have seen the recovery in employment since, I think that was a very positive thing. If firms had retained profits that they could then use to remunerate shareholders or to reinvest in their business, that was also useful in keeping the business viable. So, I think it is not a simple black-and-white situation. One would nearly need to look at each business and its own-----