Mr. John McKeon:

There is a good chance. As I say, I strongly encourage them to tender and to work together collaboratively to do so. It will provide greater security and greater flexibility for the service providers who are successful. It will entail far less bureaucracy as well. We tend to talk about the disadvantages in this, but there are significant benefits for security of tenure, for greater flexibility, for guaranteed levels of income and referrals and for an integrated service for the client. The client, instead of having an Intreo service to go to, can go to a local employment service. In between, they might go to a job club. By merging the two of those, there will be an integrated service. It puts the service on a sound legal footing with better governance. They are all the positives. I do not think we should lose sight of those. As I said before, I have no doubt that people are unsettled. Any process of change will cause people to feel unsettled. I encourage them to look at the positives in this and to see what Donegal and Sligo-Leitrim have done. It can be done.