Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is the final programme in the Department's Vote. The committee might note that this is a wide-ranging programme which aims to oversee key areas of policy, legislation and inter-sectoral collaboration to improve the lives and well-being of children and young people. Subhead C3, relating to legal fees and settlements, has incurred no expenditure to date this year. As legal costs are difficult to estimate it is not possible at this time to forecast what the end-year position will be. However, the matter will be kept under ongoing review.

Research subhead C4 shows expenditure at the end of May 2016 of €33,000 against a profile of €76,000. The marginal variation is largely attributable to timing issues on Growing Up in Ireland, the national longitudinal study, and on other research projects that will largely normalise over the remainder of the year. It is possible an underspend of €485,000 will arise at the end of the year due to delays in start-up on the Growing Up in Ireland survey. Should this happen, it will necessitate additional funds in 2017.

Subhead C5 contains resource provisions for a wide range of projects and services. Overall, the spending on this subhead at the end of May amounted to €711,000 against a profile of €2.848 million.

The variation is largely attributable to timing issues with fund drawdown for a number of the programmes supported under the subhead, which will regularise by the year end.

Subheads C6 and C7, relating to the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, both show underspends in the region of 30% at the end of May. Both underspends can be attributed to the timing of costs incurred and both are expected to be fully utilised at the end of the year.

The position for subhead C8 at the end of May, relating to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, amounted to €0.776 million against a profile of €0.994 million. The variation is attributable largely to timing differences, which are expected to reverse somewhat over the coming months as a number of projects commence. However, it is noted that the work of the commission will be the ultimate determinant of the full-year outturn. To this extent, the most significant share of the allocation is profiled in the latter part of the year and the true position will become evident only as the year progresses and the work of the commission advances. I was happy to have the opportunity to meet a couple of members of the commission recently in my offices to look at how things are going there.

I am happy to take any questions on the programme.