Mr. David Moloney:

As I mentioned in correspondence with the committee, Tusla was one of the organisations we asked. We canvassed quite widely. It was a pilot, or pathfinder, project and it was clear from the start it was not part of our core mandate. Part of our approach in reform issues is often to start with a pilot project and then to find a home for it. Among the most likely State agencies - Tusla was certainly one and the CSO was another - we asked whether they wanted to take over Benefacts and they did not. It did not align with their data needs.