Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the disability organisations and the commission. I thank them for their opening remarks. All the members of the committee have been contacted by families and people with disabilities, especially during the pandemic and in this particular phase. Mr. Egan referred to carer and family burnout. Many of those people have experienced that or are experiencing it at present. Only last week, I raised the roadmap for reopening services with the Minister. I am glad that those guidelines have been published and we are looking at a date in August, which is welcome. However, serious issues still face those services.

I welcome Mr. Dolan back to these Houses. I commend him on the work he did on disability when he was a Member of the Seanad. He referred to the 1% efficiency measure in the HSE service plan. I understand that is due to be reversed but he might highlight that and come back with a bit more information. He thinks it will be reversed but he might elaborate on that.

Mr. Egan referred to the roadmap and the carer burnout. I also note from the opening statements that 75% of residential settings, where I commend the service providers, saw no outbreak at all during the height of the first phase of Covid-19.

However, Mr. Egan also stated that 54% of respondents to the Inclusion Ireland survey had little or no contact from service providers. That is worrying. Many members of the committee have been contacted by affected individuals and their families. Education and day services have been shut down for those vulnerable groups. Could our guests comment on those matters?