Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to record my appreciation for Dr. Muldoon and his colleagues appearing before the committee and for their report, which has given us a clear framework and overview. It has given me some riding instructions on where to pursue the specific issues. On foot of the report, I have been submitting parliamentary questions that seek to gain answers in respect of metrics and where moneys will be allocated across the CHOs for assessments of needs. What is becoming apparent to me is that there is a major disparity between individual CHOs. For example, if one is living in CHO 1, the funding allocated from the €7.8 million is €214,000, but if one is living in CHO 9, the allocation is approximately €1.9 million.

My question is on processes and standardisation. This is a small country and I do not understand why there is such disparity between the CHOs in terms of the progressing disability services, PDS, programme for children. I am still unclear as to how the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, will be able to work effectively based on the funding allocations they have received. Has Dr. Muldoon's office been able to critique that model in any way? I rely on his office and we rely on the replies from the HSE, although it must be said that the HSE has a way of responding to Deputies' questions and couching the language in a particular way that does not always give us the answers to the questions we asked. Based on the allocations provided, I remain sceptical about the ability of each CHO to deliver on the assessment of needs and diminish or tackle fully the lists for initial assessments in the first instance. I would dearly love to hear what the witnesses have to say about whether the teams are the right structures to tackle this problem.