Mr. Ciar?n Lawler:

Beyond setting the rate of payments, meeting with the groups is a hugely valuable input to the policymaking process. We learn a lot from those meetings, including from the questions we are asked, the pre-budget submissions that are made and the meetings we have outside of that formalised process. Rate-setting is just one part of social welfare policy. There is a huge amount underneath all of that, as the Deputy knows. Those groups make recommendations and suggestions and we work with them, as my colleague said, on certain initiatives. It is a collaborative approach. While rate-setting takes a bit of time, it is worth investing that time with those groups because we learn and get a lot from the process.