David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I shall return to the points made by Teachta Barry earlier, which were acknowledged by the Secretary General in terms of the report by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service and its critique of the sector, the lack of funding and all of the other challenges. Ms McNally has said that her Department has modelled a fully State-led system. She also said that the range could be between €2 billion and €5 billion, which is a huge range. We need to reach the point where we have much more accurate readings and costings. Can she provide this committee with a breakdown? If I understood her correctly she said that the range from €2 billion to €5 billion depends on what is done by the Department such as whether it pays the staff costs, the parental fees or takes over the assets. The cost will rise depending on what is done by Department. I ask her to pass on the information on the model to us and the cost of different transition elements as it would prove useful.