I welcome the fact that arising from the Chapter on Financial Control in the Irish Red Cross Society that was contained in the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 2010, the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) subsequently dealt in some considerable depth with a wide range of issues relating to weak financial controls in the past and allegations of poor corporate governance. Each of the five recommendations made in the Committee’s subsequent Report that relate to the Department of Defence were carefully examined and noted by my Department. I am satisfied that despite an extremely difficult period in its recent history, there is clearly a strong process of reform now well under way at the Irish Red Cross Society and I welcome the very considerable progress that it has made in implementing new financial and accounting procedures, and in overhauling its corporate governance arrangements.