Ms Eileen Fitzgerald:

I am responding in particular to the issues raised by Senator van Turnhout. She referred to statutory powers and the personal advocacy service. There is no doubt advocates are being prevented from accessing services. Statutory powers would make a significant difference. However, it goes beyond that. Statutory powers can get people in and give people access. However, without the necessary training and understanding and without working with the service providers, we will not make progress. Many are working remarkably well with the advocacy services. I am keen to acknowledge that. This is about a person-centred approach. When an advocate comes to a facility, the staff need to be aware that she is coming to work with them to support the person in question. That involves a cultural change and a behavioural shift. This change really will not materialise unless it comes from the bottom up and the top down. The relevant training must be available. We need statutory powers, but we also need the added value of people understanding what advocacy is.

I am going to hand over to my colleague Ms Loughlin in a moment. She will discuss how the national advocacy service for people with disabilities, NAS, accesses and gets out to the services as well as how it gets to those most in need.

Reference was made to HIQA, the level of advocacy available to those in community houses and what happens when people go in. Again, Ms Loughlin might elaborate on that. We have been working with HIQA and we will continue to ensure that when representatives of HIQA go in, they know what to look for in terms of what a good advocacy service is. As Mr. Connolly has said, it is not a question of having a leaflet in a file or a note that an advocate has been to a given place. HIQA needs to be able to specify the outcome, what has changed or what has been achieved. Even for HIQA inspectors, this requires engagement with advocacy and with advocates to understand what they can expect. That will greatly enhance their work as well as supporting the advocacy service.

The national advocacy service findings constantly try to pick up, review and reflect what is happening for NAS. We have a national advisory group made up of key players in the HSE, Sage, Inclusion Ireland and a number of other players. We can raise issues and feed back on issues under that group. We have a social policy remit within the Citizens' Information Board whereby we examine submissions and make reports. It is still a work in progress. Again, the more collaboration there is between the services, ourselves and the HSE, the easier it will be for us. Perhaps Ms Loughlin will explain a little about how we reach into the community.