David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am just trying to establish the position because we want to learn lessons from mistakes. I welcome the response of Dr. Lynch.

Mr. McBride referred to the range of payments made to guardians in his response to questions. For 2015, we use figure 11.1. Is that the correct breakdown? We got clarification earlier. Under that figure, professional fees were €8.2 million in 2015. Is that correct? We have 65 guardians ad litem. My calculator tells me that the average is €126,000.

Mr. McBride then said that the range was from €40,000 to €240,000. That is extraordinary. Any time I see a range of that amount, alarm bells go off. The amount of €240,000 is seven times the average industrial wage. Mr. McBride also stated the figure was significantly higher in previous years. Can Mr. McBride elaborate on that and give us a breakdown of previous years?