John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)

I concur with all that. We had a discussion about it in our private session. It is quite concerning. Even the information the Deputy alluded to, which came out overnight, involves 200 children. Our primary concern is the welfare of all children in State care. We have a remit in respect of finance and moneys but also about who has responsibility and there seems to be some ambiguity on the part of the Department and of Tusla. We have agreed to follow up on the response we got and on foot of the new information that has come to light. It is agreed we will write to the Department to follow up on that.

It was also agreed on foot of the correspondence we received from the Department in which it gave a figure of €400,000 for what was IPAS accommodation in Newtown Mount Kennedy in my constituency of Wicklow. Some €400,000 was spent on preparing and using the site in Newtown Mount Kennedy over a ten-month period. It ceased to be used for accommodation in December last year. In a meeting with the Department of justice, I asked for a specific breakdown because since that time, security has remained on site to protect an unused and unoccupied site at a considerable cost, I imagine. As the Department has stated it has no intention of further developing or using the site, I asked for a breakdown of the ongoing security costs. That was not furnished so it was agreed to write to the Department again to seek a breakdown of the security costs for an unused, unoccupied site. That was agreed.

We will move on to our work programme. Next week, on Thursday, 11 December 2025, the committee will meet the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. On Thursday, 18 December 2025, the committee will meet the Department of Social Protection and we will next week have a further discussion about our work programme for the new year.

We will move on to any other business. Are there any items members wish to flag? No. That concludes the second session. We will suspend the meeting for approximately five minutes to bring in our witnesses.