Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

There are rules in place. The Arts Council looked for a principal officer. It was sanctioned for an assistant principal higher, which is not that far off. It was advised three times to go to the market at that level and if it failed to recruit somebody at that level, to come back to the Department. It took the Arts Council a year and a half to accept the Department's advice. It went to the market and recruited somebody who seems to be very effective. One could say it had an ambition for a higher level but the public pay rules in terms of the top of the pyramid - what the chief executive and the deputy chief are on and reporting lines - are rules we have to abide by, frustrating as they are. That was one of the issues in this case.