Mr. Michael Fitzgerald:

To be clear, we are very conscious of the need to manage very this carefully. Obviously, as Dr. O' Brien said, for confidentiality reasons, we cannot get into the ins and outs of individual cases but up to nine assessments have been undertaken with those affected. The discussion is predominantly with the people themselves but we are also talking to their families. I want to reassure the committee that great care is being taken. When we talk about high-support hostels, we are using terminology that is used for a very specific type of service or facility. Its usage is long-established. We did not make up that term. It is part and parcel of the service. It is a service provision area where people will go and hopefully have a more independent style of living. We cannot give up on that goal. What we said earlier is that some of the people who are resident in the Owenacurra centre today need long-stay care in nursing homes while others will, with support, hopefully be able to become more independent than they are right now. The future for us has to be that we are making a gain for every person who can, where possible, live independently or live independently with supports in their own home and their own community. It is in our interests to get this right. There are two cohorts of people to look after. There are the current residents but also the current and future users of services. We must ensure that they are given priority and that we can maintain them so that they do not have to enter into continuing care if that is not necessary. That is a hugely important aspect of all of this.