Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Tuam agency has now been established and we have appointed Mr. Daniel MacSweeney as the director. Significant work is under way to prepare the agency to be in a position to begin excavations but the excavations themselves have not yet begun. That will probably be the most costly element. It is important to say that Mr. MacSweeney has been very clear that he wants all of the scientific, technical and forensic services ready once excavation takes place, rather than doing it at the same time, and that sounds like the correct way to proceed.

In the 2023 budget we did not have an allocation for the payment of the redress scheme but an allocation for its establishment. A lot of work is being undertaken in the Department to put in place the infrastructure for a scheme that will have tens of thousands of people apply to it. I had hoped that people would be able to make claims this year but obviously that is not going to happen at this stage. I would hope that within quarter 1 of next year, people will be in a position to make claims. Importantly, in the Department's budget allocation for 2024, €225 million has been allocated for the beginning of payments. Unlike this year, the first tranche of a large amount of money will be paid out next year. As we know, it will be paid over a five-year period so it is not all in our budget in year one. The full €800 million is not in our budget in year one but a very substantial allocation has been made for the beginning of payments in 2024.