Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. As I said, Mr. Jeyes has been working on that since last year and has been very clear about accountability.

The arrangements which need to be made with service providers is spelled out in section 56 of the legislation. There are very detailed instructions for the agency and how it will carry out its business with the voluntary organisations. If the Deputies read it, they will see they must submit a copy of the audited accounts and the auditor’s certificate and report on the accounts to the agency within such period of time as may be specified by the agency. The legislation has clarified the situation quite a bit in terms of what is expected from the voluntary organisations under the remit of the agency.

Deputy Troy asked about additional staff. That will become clear when we receive the business plan from the agency but clearly it will be in the areas identified where more staff are needed currently.

The management team, having analysed the postion around the country, may come back with recommendations for additional social workers or care workers as inspectors for the preschool service. That will be determined by the demand perceived by the agency. This will be clarified in the business plan.