Ms Bernie McNally:

I thank the Deputy for his question. Insurance is a major issue for the sector, and it is particularly difficult and challenging that there is only one major provider. There is one other small provider, but it is really only main one. From evidence we know that insurance costs represent approximately 1% of the sector's cost. Staff salaries etc. come to 70%. The Alliance insurance cost for a child in full-time care is about €60 per child per year.

Regarding the risk of the sector, we would say this is a heavily regulated sector. There are a number of safeties built into that which should be factored into any consideration of insurance and risk. People in the sector will say they feel overregulated. There is a Tusla inspectorate and a Department of Education and Skills inspectorate. Health and safety, and other regulators also have a role in the sector.

We were due to publish the Crowe independent review of costs in April, but unfortunately Covid struck us. The three or four weeks' work that we had to do on it had to be postponed because Covid has taken over for us. We hope to publish that review fairly soon and it gives considerable information on the costs in the sector. That would be very useful in future considerations of insurance and how to get better value for money.