Professor Kathleen Lynch:

I want to make a small point. It came up in the Day report and it relates to what we have been talking about on costs. It made the point that we are currently in a for-profit system and we are moving from that. That is Government policy and it is very welcome. One of the things that struck me was that it did the costings, which were very revelatory. It showed that well over €100 million would be saved in a non-profit system. We have scope to use that money differently. As Ms Gibney, Mr. O'Dwyer and Mr. Kirwan said, it is costly but part of the cost that is incurred is that we delay everything so long. The problems are exacerbated, one after the other, the longer the delay. If we are rethinking the expenditure, we definitely need to think about where we are going to redeploy this money and about how and for what purpose it will be used. Speeding up the system, such as getting access to justice right from the beginning and being integrated, is not rocket science. It is about making a decision.

My hope is that there will be a timeframe and targets, and that this committee will address this. I know from any big project I have ever been involved in that unless there are clear timeframes, clear targets, monitoring and a plan, it will not happen. There is no use saying it will end by 2024 unless there are clear timeframes for everything. That includes all the issues Deputy Buckley raised. Whether it is about reunification of families, or access to legal provisions Mr. O'Dwyer and Mr. Kirwan mentioned, we have to have a plan for all of those.

I do not know who has this plan. Maybe the committee has raised this. Which Department has responsibility for the plan? It will have to involve all of them at some stage, because it involves housing, health and education. If there is not a plan, it will not happen. When I read the various documents, such as the White Paper and the Day report, I felt that there did not seem to be a strategic plan as to how we were going to achieve this in the timeframe, and that is very important. I thank the committee.