Mr. Lorcan O'Connor:

I must make a couple of points. The reasonable living expenses make provisions for savings, contingencies and items of expenditure that have not been specifically identified. These amount to €200 per month. However, there may be situations in which even these allowances are insufficient to deal with the unforeseen. The legislation provides for variations to arrangements with the assistance of practitioners. If the situation is temporary - for example, fixing something that has broken down - the variation may be a straightforward postponement of two or three months of payments until the end of the arrangement. If an unforeseen expense will continue into the future, a more fundamental change will be made to the arrangement.