Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will add a comment myself before I have to suspend for voting. I am sorry about that. While I accept that there will be a post hocreview on redress schemes in general, I agree with my colleagues here that there should be an independent investigation into the operation and management of Caranua. That should be commissioned and carried out by the Department. I would be interested to know if there is scope for such a review and, if so, what the likely timeframe would be.

The survivors in question have been in very vulnerable situations and they have been let down and failed. I anticipate certainly that when Caranua is wound up, extra supports will be needed for them. Can the witnesses indicate what supports will be put in place? There was €18 million available in the investment account by the end of September 2018. That is a great deal of money to have in the account while there has been a hold-up in making payments to survivors. Is that kept there because of the backlog or is there another specific reason?

The cap of €15,000 seems quite low. Caranua says the decision came from survivors but there was no consultation with them. I accept that it was Caranua that set the cap not the Department but the witnesses might give us a sense of why that might be. I ask the witnesses to excuse the suspension for voting. As soon as we come back, we will carry on.