Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late as there was a rally outside relating to people with cervical cancer. It was fairly moving, as one might imagine. We accept the witnesses have major challenges ahead in their work. I am not long on this committee. There is a credibility issue with the work being done because of the work already done but which has not been implemented. That is a problem. We are picking up from the groups coming in that the structures seem to be all over the place. There does not seem to be great co-ordination. Services seem to be dependent on where a person lives, so if gaps exist, something needs to be done. I hope that is on the agenda. It is wrong that if a person lives in a particular area, that person cannot access services. The Ireland that allows such things should be gone, as far as I am concerned. Similarly, if I do not come from a wealthy background, those services should still be available to me and my family.

Where do many of the families looking for that help go? It is the biggest problem we face. They normally go to politicians like us and we are probably the worst people to go to. Some will go to their GP and so on but there is a gap in the knowledge. These are simple problems such as who to contact at a service level. The answers are not available to us so if they are not available to us as elected representatives, how can they be available to Joe Citizen? These are the simple issues that could be life-changing for people. I wish Mr. Kane well but as well as anybody like him on a committee, there is a major responsibility on the Minister to explain why the recommendations of predecessors were not carried out. Before taking on a new role, Mr. Kane must be clear in his own mind that he is not wasting time and ticking boxes in the same way. This committee is sitting down and coming up with recommendations but I hope they will not sit on a shelf.

This is not an attack but I am looking for a sensible way forward. I hope more committees will adopt such an approach. I am interested in Mr. Kane's views.