Mr. Bernard Gloster:

In respect of the school completion programme, achieving standardisation is very difficult because of where the programme grew up from. They are voluntary bodies, voluntary boards and so on, with very different approaches. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that because sometimes local is good. Where the standardisation must be is in the quality of the service provided and the governance around the money.

My advice from the education welfare service, which since yesterday has been known as the Tusla education support service, is that we are much more satisfied with the level of compliance with the service arrangement and commissioning process in which we are engaged. When we are asking an organisation locally to change some of its practices there will always be a body of work. It is a programme to which we are very committed. In the rebrand of the education welfare service yesterday we named three strands to the approach of Tusla's education and welfare service. The school completion programme is at the heart of that.

The guardian ad litemservice operates at a cost of approximately €16 million per year. That is a little more than half our total legal spend. We have managed to reduce our general legal services cost base slightly but the guardian ad litemcosts have increased. I recall when the guardian ad litemservice started, which is perhaps a reflection of how long I have been around. For a long time, it has necessary to place the service on a statutory footing and I welcome the Minister's approach to that. As the Bill progresses through the various Stages in the Dáil, it will have its own process but I welcome the sincere attempt to place the service on a statutory footing. It is far too complex an environment for it to be ad hoc. I know there has been a good deal of commentary on the guardian ad litemservice and I have no doubt there will be commentary on it in the future. My view is that it is a good move to place it on a statutory footing.

In respect of preparatory work for that, if the statute is implemented, the guardian ad litemservice will leave Tusla as a system. It will become more independent of Tusla and the Department will have oversight of it. The Department is establishing a guardian ad litempreparation office to which Tusla is contributing and participating fully. I am also working with my colleague, the Secretary General, on that. Very good progress will be seen in that regard in 2020. This is being done against a backdrop where the service was not provided for in legislation for more than 20 years. The process will take time as it involves a range of complex matters.