Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To recap, disability and social care were explicitly excluded from thinking about the future. Ms Flynn stated there is no policy or strategy, described the relationship with the State as broken and noted that even though an excellent report was published about five months ago, there has been zero engagement with either that report or the forthcoming changes to the healthcare system. That is the most damning testimony we have of the reality of this broken relationship. It is quite extraordinary.

Dr. Day also referred to a broken relationship, a phrase that clearly goes to the heart of the problem. Why is the relationship so broken? What we are hearing about is not a mildly dysfunctional relationship. We are hearing that a multibillion euro essential service is being kept at arm's length by the State, despite €3.3 billion of public money going into it. Does Dr. Day have a sense of why the relationship is so profoundly broken or what we can do, not in the coming years but in the coming months, to start bringing these groups together? That is one question. How much strategic alignment did Dr. Day see in her work between the stated health goals of the State and the expenditure of €3.3 billion?

I cannot remember who said one of the things. It was in the report. It was recommended that a mapping of services be provided for. Is it the case that the HSE could not tell us today what it is getting, or what it thinks it is getting, for our €3.3 billion?