Mr. Pat Smyth:

The Deputy made a couple of points about the total framework for guardians ad litem. The new legislation is about governing that effectively because what has happened since the agency was set up, previously it was the HSE, is that Tusla has become the paymaster in terms of those costs, whether it is the actual guardians ad litemthemselves or the legal people who are commissioned alongside that. What we have done is brought some structure. We were with the Committee of Public Accounts after a report was compiled by the Comptroller and Auditor General two years ago on the guardian ad litemcost piece. We had successfully introduced strong frameworks for the costs where there had been none before. The new legislation brings a completely different level of control over that.

The €16 million that Mr. Gloster referred to in this year's expected cost includes the cost of the legal providers as well as the cost of guardians ad litem. The split is probably €9 million for the guardians ad litemand €7 million for the legal cost to support them. Tusla could not provide that because the courts would not allow it to do so.