Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

As I understand it, the Department is being asked to send a representative. I would expect they will be able to explain. The normal process is that there is approximately one month from the signing of the certificate to the submission of that to the parent Department and then the parent Department has two months to present it to the Oireachtas. In exceptional circumstances, where a memorandum has to be sent to the Cabinet in advance of submission of the accounts, there is an allowance of three months. A period of four months should be the maximum that there would be a delay between my signing and the accounts being presented.