Mr. Rory Brown:

I want to go back to the point Deputy Costello made about the cost of €6,000 a week for residential care. We talk about supports and the supports we are looking for, putting in these supports will cost something. However, when we look at it, and I have just done the basic maths here, it costs €312,00 to support one child in residential care for one year. That is mental when we compare it to the current rate for foster home care, which is €18,300. We can use that money we are paying for residential and private residential care to create and put in place these supports that foster carers, foster kids and everyone needs. Now, the money is going to paying for these placements for children, which are important at the moment. However, the quicker we can change the system to include more foster carers, even if they are private caregivers, it means that there will be more money for putting in place the supports that we are all talking about here. When we are looking at these issues, that is the direction in which we need to move. The quicker we do that, the quicker we can have that financial support in the correct services that are needed.