John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That was an important thing. It is also worth acknowledging that the officials understand the depth of feeling among members on foot of the distress this caused to people. Mr. McKeon acknowledged clearly that when the problem occurred, communications and a lack of contingency planning presented difficulties. I hope those things are built in as future programmes are rolled out. Questions of "what if" should be addressed. There should be communications and contingency planning and that will hopefully be reflected in the review. It is fair to acknowledge that the witnesses are in a public forum today and that the Department's apology is a public one. As Mr. McKeon says, the Department has written to those affected. While it is a number which fluctuates as people are in and out of the system, the apology here today should be recognised as a public one and I acknowledge that.