Mr. Tomás Lally:

Deputy Brady asked another question about franchising and whether it represented a threat. The Pathfinder report examined franchising as one of the options. As Senator Higgins has pointed out, it is clear that the county model was not costed or examined in the Pathfinder report. A no-change model was examined. Presumably, it is adequate but it is not costed as such or looked at in terms of a model. Therefore, franchising would seem to be on the table. It was put forward as a possible model for restructuring. Our submission referenced that perhaps after regionalisation it could be the second play in a couple of years' time and that services will be franchised eventually. We have already seen job activation services from the Department franchised through Seetec and Turas Nua. There is nothing to indicate that perhaps the same would happen with citizens information services down the road.