Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To inject a little more balance, I reflect on my own personal exposure to the work of the Camphill community at the Ballybay location in my constituency and home county. I have had the opportunity to engage with Mr. Joe Lynch previously, including at Ballybay, and I know personally and from my own attendance on a number of occasions at the special days that it is a fantastic facility. I pay tribute to all who give service there and throughout the Camphill communities throughout the country. I have met people whose commitment is a vocational one. I hope Mr. John O'Connor will accept that I see it in those terms and the role as a vocation. There is no other way to describe what is involved and the people I have met tick that box in the most honourable and finest understanding of that idea of vocation. That said, I am sure the situation in Ballybay is replicated throughout all of the Camphill communities and it would be unforgivable if our health system failed to the point that any of these communities were lost.

In his presentation, Mr. Lynch talked about a funding issue with the HSE which has remained unresolved and now threatens the sustainability of the Camphill model. There can be no doubt that if the situation is as bad as that sentence suggests, it is unacceptable. It is not only in terms of the actual prospective loss of any entity within the Camphill communities network; the fact that the threat even exists is unacceptable. I note that Camphill has been told by the HSE that it may at some point in the future develop a needs assessment tool. I do not for a moment believe that is Mr. Lynch's language. The HSE has a great deal to clarify. What does it mean by "may at some point in the future"? It is either going to do it or it is not. It is something that would be more than useful, and I note that Camphill would support that approach. That is one of the questions. I want to record support for and to second if necessary the Chairman's proposal that we write directly to the HSE on the back of this engagement. That is one of the questions that should be incorporated in the list of questions that we need to put.