Mr. John Farrelly:

First, why it sits with us and why we are happy with it is that we are privileged to be able to vindicate the rights of people who have been detained involuntarily or who have lost their liberty - things we take for granted. Over time, we had to build it in a way that we could budget for it and provide the service in a robust way. During Covid, all tribunals took place. We are used to delivering services. That is why we wanted the DSS, because we wanted it to deliver for the people of Ireland, people with disabilities and people who do not have, but may have, problems in the future.

In terms of the Courts Service itself, there would have been discussions at departmental level. The general sense is that this is not a criminal justice issue. I know this sounds very simplistic, but this is a human rights and individual health and social issue. People do not see it as a criminal justice issue. I know the courts are about more than that, but it is simply a case of it being separated out. People in wardships have been aligned to the courts for many years and they felt they wanted a more independent body.