Ms Joan Carthy:

On housing and the connection with the personal assistance services, there are all sorts of policies and strategies already in place but there is no stitching between the mainstream strategies and those for people with disabilities. The work has been done on the strategies but it is down to implementation and putting in place the proper amount of funding. Over and over we hear this same problem about somebody who needs housing and personal assistant services, one cannot come without the other. The HSE says in emergency circumstances it will put this funding in place but the person needs to have the house first, to have a permanent address. The two Departments are not coming together to figure out the best way to put a service in place for an individual. People are fighting over and over for services and that is wasting funding because of the professionals who get involved.

That in itself is wasting funding because of the professionals who get involved in this piece of work. It is about Departments working together to identify what the need of the individual is, not working constantly in a silo.