Dr. Fergal Lynch:

I certainly can give a commitment that we will retain the advisory group, which we have found very helpful. The group has met once or twice a week since the middle of May and we have worked very collaboratively with it to produce very positive results. To deal with the Deputy's point regarding what was discussed this morning, ideally we would have had much earlier-stage consultations, including with the unions. At the time, for practical reasons, that simply did not prove possible because of the nature of what we were dealing with in a very compressed time period. We were essentially operating off a very limited number of options. The public health requirements in particular effectively would have limited us to one of two options, namely, either childcare workers providing a service at home or else a limited opening of services. It became clear very early on in our discussions with NPHET, which was very helpful, that the only game in town was childcare workers going into the homes of healthcare workers. We were very limited in our options and what we could discuss with others.

It is fair to say that we have a good record of consulting, generally speaking, throughout the Department on all sorts of issues. It was unfortunate that we did not have an opportunity to do that in the early stages of the development of this particular scheme but I certainly can give a commitment that we will continue to consult widely, going forward, in regard to the schemes. With particular reference to the advisory group, it has been a good group which has met, as I said, once or twice a week since the middle of May. We have worked collaboratively with the group to make sure that we produce the best possible scheme.