Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending this meeting and for the work they do in the voluntary sector. I also thank the independent review group for its report. It makes for sobering reading and the opening statements make for sobering listening for a wide variety of reasons, from service provision and financial stresses and strains to future stresses and strains and what is described as a broken relationship between the voluntary sector and the State. It is all very sobering stuff.

I will start with the voluntary organisations. The independent review group's report was published in February. It is 100 pages long and makes 24 very sensible recommendations, some of which are technical and relate to good governance, while others would profoundly change the relationship between the sector and the State. Have the witnesses seen any progress from the State on any of those 24 recommendations? Have their organisations been engaged with in a meaningful way on any of them? A massive reorganisation and reconfiguration of the health service, of which they are an integral part, is taking place. How closely have the voluntary organisations been consulted on and involved in the plans, which will soon be brought before the Cabinet?