John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the witnesses. I have had a long connection with all of them in my involvement with the Disability Federation of Ireland. We were very core, which goes to the very idea of co-operation, to the importance of the establishment of The Wheel as something that was bigger and for the whole community and voluntary sector. It is an example of understanding that it is beyond oneself. WALK and Epilepsy Ireland and many others have been part of the movement for a long time.

This report gives our committee a strong basis for focusing its work over the next year or two around the disability issue. It raises some of the critical strategic issues and brings it down to brass tacks. The independent review group report referred to owing a debt of gratitude to the people who work in the voluntary sector. It did not say the people who were employed. It referred to those who work in it, which takes in both. There is a high dependency in that regard as an integral part of the whole sector. The report's authors were struck by the need of the organisations with which they engaged to be listened to and their willingness to find a new basis for co-operation. The last part of that is a challenge to the voluntary organisations as well as just saying that they are great.

The report stated that Ireland benefits from a strong public service commitment in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. Perhaps this is the place to start engagement between the HSE, the statutory health services and the voluntary services. The report reads, "If the voluntary sector is to be retained, as we believe it should, there is a need to give public recognition to its legally separate nature". This may be a soft way of putting it that they are not subcontractors of the HSE. It goes to the heart of how we respectfully engage. The report goes on that the voluntary sector must also recognise "its dependence on the State". It is a two-way street.

I will move on to the witnesses, as I realise we are stuck for time. We have been here before. There was the White Paper in 2000 on supporting voluntary activity. That was nearly 20 years ago. It was a whole-of-government thing with all of the Departments, an implementation group and the whole works for a policy that came out in 1999. That has withered on the vine and it withered fairly quickly. In the context of this report and all of the things that would give us hope, how do we put that statement against the fact of what has happened previously and the difficulty of making things stick?

Is there actual respect for the public benefit these organisations bring? This is the term used in our charity legislation. They cannot become charities unless they are adjudged to bring public benefit. Is there actual respect for that?

The disability services programme of €1.9 billion is built on an old administrative structure that perhaps goes back to the foundation of the State. Will the witnesses comment on or make an input into the amount of support and engagement that takes place outside of the disability health services but within the health services? Much of the epilepsy support for people is neurologist teams and so on and is not funded through the disability services programme. Perhaps the witnesses could give some sense of the importance of the broader picture. How relevant do the representatives believe Sláintecare is? Is it another process that is going in parallel or in a similar direction?

Much of the disability services programme is about delivering reactive services, which must be provided because people have got to a certain situation. Should we be getting to the point of delivering more of a proactive service?

Last week we had a meeting with the new chairman of the HSE. He talked about the demographics and said we are trying to chase him at the wrong end of the spectrum. I put that to the witnesses. He says we must invest in prevention, amelioration and measures that prevent and-or slow down the impact of conditions. He referred to medicines and other things.

Then there is the advocacy role and the work that is done outside of the specific disability. Ms Jones spoke about schools, family and employment, and other witnesses made similar references.

That is it in a nutshell.