Ms Mo Flynn:

It is fair to say this reflects the fact that there is no policy or strategy. Clearly what existed in the past and was recognised in the 1980s and 1990s on the key role of the voluntary sector led to enhancing the partnership agreement. The agreement may have had its pros and cons but it underpinned the relationship between the State and the Department of Health and the voluntary and disability sectors for many years, and did so very effectively for many years. That was basically lost from 2009 onwards.

What we see today is a reflection of the absence of a strategy or policy that would determine what that relationship should be. The result has been a rather ad hocrelationship in which many of the issues relating to the sector are not brought forward or addressed.