Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with that issue first, and I know other people raised it. There were five years of consultation before the decision was made. People are stating that it was rushed through or they were not consulted. For five years the boards of MABS and CIB consulted with their members and volunteers over changing the process. With regard to the consultation that is going ahead now, and which started in May - I believe I have said this on the record before - there were many meetings and 378 people attended. I do not need to give the details again, but the consultation that is now coming to an end is around the process of changing, on the basis of the decision that was made after five years of deliberations.