Dr. Fergal Lynch:

We were working our way through the issues and we were hoping we would come to solutions to them. In the end, unfortunately this was not possible. We were extremely disappointed because we were very committed to trying to achieve a package that would work. We had the funding in place, which had been agreed by the Government. There was a €4.2 million per week package of funding. That would have involved an average pay of €15 per hour for childcare workers, employer costs for PRSI and holiday pay and some funding for administration costs for providers as well. I am not blaming anybody but it was disappointing. It did not happen. That was not, however, for the want of trying.