Ms Kate Duggan:

There was a decision made over the years to close high-support units within Tusla. The whole focus of the residential strategy was to look at the current landscape and what demands and needs were there and to project out the additional beds. What we had not been able to predict, and this has slowed us down, was the additional staff and money for the recruitment of beds. When we engaged with the community and voluntary sector sustainability was the challenge it had, so we sought and received additional funding in the Estimates to provide additional funding for sustainability to engage with the community and voluntary sector to try to support it to scale its beds such that, in line with Tusla, the community and voluntary residential providers would be able to scale. The challenge we are all facing is the workforce challenge.