Ms Patricia Finlay:

On the 164 cases, it is my understanding that HIQA did not say the cases could not be closed but that it was unclear whether they had been closed on our system. Our childcare information system, NCCIS, should very clearly show that a case has been closed off. It must be borne in mind that we were coming from a position of having paper based systems and two separate ICT systems and there was a lack of standardisation. Today, however, 15 out of the 17 areas within Tusla are now live on our childcare information system and by 8 July, the entire agency will be live on NCCIS. The system is set up in such a way that every action performed by a social worker is signed off by either a team leader or a principal social worker. In terms of that piece, of the 164 cases, the issue was that it was not clearly visible from the system that they had been closed off.