Ms Kate Duggan:

We would not have predicted the 10% increase in child protection and welfare referrals we have seen year on year over the last number of years. The figure has doubled since the agency was established. We look at that, as an executive management team, in terms of all the data we get from the Central Statistics Office and from other data sources, which the Deputy will be aware of. The new child poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach is working very closely with the CSO on trying to predict demand for different types of services related to children and families. The other thing we could never have predicted has been the number of separated children we have been required to respond to since March 2022. Apart from responding to and supporting all the Ukrainian families that came, 1,200 responses were required where young people aged under 18 years turned up on their own and needed the State to take them into accommodation.