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

The early years strategy will be catered for under programme B. With regard to the commission of investigation, the diverse nature of the concerns to be examined requires that the commission has the financial resources to retain a multidisciplinary range of professionals deemed necessary, some of whom I have met, to assist its investigations. The budget of €6 million is available to support the commission in 2017. Given the profile of the expenditure to date, the Department is satisfied sufficient funds are available within the subhead to enable the commission to respond to the matters that may emerge as the investigation progresses. I am of course aware of the number of questions and concerns about potential extension of the terms of reference. The issue around money would be completely separate if there was ever any decision to do that. As regards the terms as they stand, we are confident the money is there to do the work in the term. The policy for historical cases is being revised in light of establishing the specialist teams to deal with these cases.