Ms Kate Duggan:

We are looking at how allocations were made historically where family resource centres, Barnardos or some of a variety of community and voluntary sector organisations were in areas, but we must also account for what we have not been so good at across the public sector. In this regard, I can talk about the work we are doing in Tusla now. It is a question of looking at the smaller population of what is going to be a network and determining its child population, its number of families, the deprivation index, the services that are already available, how we use the money we commission, and how we ensure the resource we have is being used as appropriately as it should be to meet the needs of the population where evidence has been found that inputs are working. Regarding the likes of Laois-Offaly, Louth-Meath and some pockets in areas around the country that have an inadequate number of commissioned services, we are trying to bring a baseline balance back. Again, that will require investment. If we are considering networks and the needs within the associated communities, it is a matter of determining how we can do better with what we have, which is the focus of the child poverty unit, and also, with our Department, the services children and families need in those communities.