Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to Senator Alice-Mary Higgins first. I will speak to some points and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will address the legal side. The Senator talked about community participation. This year, for the first time ever in the budget, we managed to get a line which acknowledges the funding for disability community integration. Even though it was within a health budget, we will be launching it when it moves over to the new Department with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for the simple reason that it is all about integration in the community. It will be welcome, exciting news. While the money may not be substantial to start with, it is a step in the right direction and I look forward to working with members on that. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for his intervention to ensure that happened in the budget this year.

Senator McGreehan has touched on many issues. What it boils down to is building capacity. Let us be proactive as opposed to being reactive. One has to look at the disability capacity review. Much work has gone into it. I hope that it will be brought to the Cabinet and published in the near future. It will lay out how we should plan our services as opposed to being reactive and with poor parents feeling they have been left with no option, and possibly having to abandon their children because we have not built in respite or residential places. We should not always be price takers in the Department. We should have it done right.

The Chairman raised speech and language therapy. It is a focus. We met with Paul Reid in the last fortnight to discuss this issue. It is a concern of mine. I met with the CHOs yesterday to discuss making disability a priority, and returning clinicians to deliver essential services for persons with disabilities.