Mr. Francis Doherty:

As far as I know, the bill for PR services at that time was relatively small. The legal services would have been more expensive. The contractors we were seeking to prioritise were people who were providing agency staff. In the timeline I provided to the committee were examples of agency staff being withdrawn at the eleventh hour and at least five services in one weekend at risk of immediate closure because I did not have the authority to pay the contractor. There was a risk of fuel cards being withdrawn, staff having to pay for fuel out of their own pockets in order to keep the show on the road. Those were the types of creditor that needed to be paid but were not.