Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Chairman well in public, as I did in private, and welcome the Minister and her officials. I wish to ask a question about the ICT system and then go back to this year's system, following on from Deputy Neville's questions. I am a little concerned about the timescale that has just been delineated. It sounds to me that it is approximately 12 months if one adds the eight to ten weeks for the tendering, the five months of development, the six to eight weeks for testing and the 12 to 14 weeks for the launch. Will it be ready for September 2018? That is my main question and the most pertinent one because there is certainly an expectation that it will be rolled out by then. Originally, the intention was to roll it out this year.

My second question concerns this year's plans. The Minister has said that up to 70,000 children will get support and that there is online information, an information campaign etc. That is all very welcome but there is still confusion. The providers are concerned that there is a short timeframe, that they must do much of this themselves manually and that parents are asking questions to which they do not necessarily know the answers. Will the Minister therefore monitor constantly the actual availability for children who qualify around the country? Some providers would say to us that they might not partake in the scheme at all because it is too cumbersome or will take too much time. My second question therefore concerns monitoring the current system. When will we know if family income supplement, FIS, is deductible? That is a consideration as to whether people will qualify and it seems to me that FIS should be deductible because it is a support system for low-income families and there is no point in giving it to them on the one hand and taking it away from them on the other.