Dr. Colm O'Reardon:

Essentially, yes. We fully accept what the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General states. There was an oversight in the Department. The grant of credit should have been sought earlier, so it should have been in place long before the date in question. Our systems did not prevent us from seeking a payment from the bank without the relevant credit being in place.

When this occurred, the Department conducted an internal review. A senior colleague, the head of the banking division, reviewed the incident and the processes and systems in the Department. We have made a number of changes to those processes and systems which are intended to ensure this does not occur in the future.