Ms Eibhlin Byrne:

In the summer of last year, Mr. Gordon Jeyes, the chief executive officer, and I met the voluntary and community sector individually to look at their services. The first thing at which we looked was the relationship between front-line delivery and back-room costs because we wanted the back room to be at an absolute minimum, with everything going into the front line. By joining Cosc and Tusla - by joining the strategy and the operation - one should be able to cut down on some of the back-room costs and put them into the front line. If the Senator is asking me my opinion, the answer is that I think they should be joined, but if she is asking me whether we are in discussions about joining them, the answer is that we are not yet in discussions.