Ms Kate Duggan:

We are in ongoing engagement with the Department at the moment. As the Deputy knows, our job is to set out our existing level of spend for this year and our projected forecast for next year, both in terms of meeting current expenditure into 2026 and building in the normal things we have to do around pay, income, pensions and all of that. We are forecasting based on the trend, as the Deputy just said, of an increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection. We have put forward all the additional resources we would like to see. We would like to be able to respond in the right place at the right time as quickly as possible to every child who comes to us for our services. Considering there has been such an increase in the demand for our services, increased investment is necessary to meet this need. We have also looked for additional funding for therapeutic supports for children with very complex needs and therapeutic supports for children in foster care.