Mr. Des Delaney:

The memo was forwarded last year in September. We got to the point prior to the budget where it did not proceed any further. As the Senator would be aware, it is related to other Departments, including the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. We hope the Minister will get to approve the latest draft of the memo. It is negotiated with the Department of Health and the Department of Justice. As to what it outlines, the Cabinet has never received a memo related to Barnahus. This is quite an innovative model that absolutely should be shared at Cabinet level. The memo will explain the Irish context, which I just went through in my opening statement. There is definitely an Irish context in terms of the HIQA 2018 inquiry and the expert advisory group that was set up, which recommended Barnahus as a pilot model. We also have EU and Council of Europe commitments. As I mentioned, there are 46 countries within the Council of Europe that are all implementing this model. It is fantastic to sit around a table and hear from countries such as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Montenegro as to how they plan to implement Barnahus in their own country. We must align ourselves with the Council of Europe commitments but also it is an important child-friendly model that has to be rolled out. I agree about the scale and the committee’s concern that the scale might not be big enough at this point. However, we have to get this operation in those three sites as a starting point. That is the context of the memo. Clearly, it has not gone to Cabinet. I cannot share the details at this point in time. That is outlining the purpose of it - having Cabinet support. On a three-departmental level in particular, we are working hard to develop this model now.