Dr. Cathal Morgan:

I will pick up on that question. I welcome the Senator's remarks. This is precisely what it is we are trying to do. The first thing to say is that the Disability Act should not be seen as the gateway to services. That is the most important thing. It is the very reason we are establishing the children and young people with disability networks. When a child is born and there is a complex disability need, the mum and dad or the carer should be able to have direct contact with a network team in a defined geographical area where there is rapid intervention that stays with the child and family up to the age of 18, when he or she will move on to adult services. We always make a distinction regarding the statutory process under the Disability Act, but we would much prefer to emphasise the children's disability network teams which parents in the situation the Senator very well described should be able to access through their GP, a public health nurse or a system of making contact. Our teams will be up and running fully by the end of this quarter and we will be publicising that from the point of view of that in circumstances where there is a complex disability need, one should be able to make direct contact and get interdisciplinary intervention.