Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, that is significant because as my colleague pointed out, the Comptroller and Auditor General highlighted significant errors from the Department's point of view, with cost implications. That is not mentioned in the opening statement. Second, and this is important, the Department has a very important role in policy that it did not mention in the opening statement. To go back to the document, I see one of the Department's roles as being to formulate appropriate social protection and social inclusion policies. The Department's policy role is very important given the role of social welfare in keeping most of our citizens out of poverty. It is significant that Ms O'Donoghue left that out of her opening statement, and she is zoning in on three areas. Obviously, the support for people is very important, but the control of fraud and abuse, as opposed to the Department's policy role and the errors made by the Department, is very important. I ask Ms O'Donoghue to reflect on that.