Mr. John Hogan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to be here this morning. It is clear that at the last meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts the information on the settlement between PwC and the joint administrators was sought by the committee. It was not possible at that stage to disclose in the context of the proceedings that were ongoing at that time. Since that meeting, there have been a number of specific developments which enable me to be a little bit more explicit in terms of the outcome.

First, we had sought greater clarity in relation to the specific terms of the confidentially agreement between the litigants. Second, it has also been confirmed to us that the joint administrators, such as Quill Insurance Ltd., QIL, will be before the courts on 8 May in relation to a separate matter. As a result of that, the Department has become a notice party to it. Additional information has therefore come into the domain of the Department that allows us to disclose the number. The proceedings between PwC and the joint administrators of QIL were settled and the joint administrators' receipt of the settlement of some €54 million has been remitted to the Insurance Compensation Fund, ICF, in July of last year. That is the settlement sum.