Dr. Fergal Lynch:

It is very difficult to forecast demand. It is a demand-led scheme because individual courts and judges make a decision on the circumstances in which they will assign GALs. The overall level of expenditure has not fluctuated enormously in the past three years and has been between €14 million and €16 million, but that is not to say it is okay. However, in the current environment it is very difficult to forecast future demand. Tusla can operate on the overall assumption that expenditure will broadly be the same as in the previous year and this has been the case in the past three years. The improved data being collected by it will enable us to improve the position to some extent, but for as long as we have a system that is demand led, it will be extremely difficult to forecast accurately what expenditure will be. The focus has to be on managing and controlling costs as much as possible, both GAL and legal fees.