Ms Bernie McNally:

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has responsibility for all policy in this area. There are some aspects of policy that we share with the Department of Education and Skills. We have responsibility for the legislation under which Tusla operates, both primary legislation and the regulations. The regulations that were introduced in 2016 gave Tusla significantly more powers than existed under the old HSE system of inspections, etc. Those regulations were being prepared for a number of years. There was intensive liaison with Tusla and an active process of engagement around what it wanted, etc. In the context of those regulations and the amendment to the Childcare Act that happened at the time, I am of the view that we provided as many additional powers as the system was ready for. That has to be said. We were moving from very light touch to where we hoped we were going in terms of right touch. A lot more powers were given at that stage. We operate very effectively with the inspectorate, recognising its independence, etc.. We are in constant touch with the inspectorate. We are constantly hearing feedback from it on changes that might need to be made. Hence, in the context of First 5, we had committed to reviewing the regulations before the RTÉ programme was broadcast. We absolutely will continue that intensive engagement when the inspectorate is well-established. All inspectors and regulators take time to bed in. The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, took time to bed in. Now that these are well-established, it is the right time to look at more powers, albeit that those powers may only be used on a very small number of occasions. There is strong engagement and inspectors are shaping and will shape policy. Inspectors' feedback feeds right up through to the senior levels within Tusla.