Dr. Fergal Lynch:

I thank Senator Higgins for those important points. On the timeline for the optional protocol, I very much take the Senator's concerns into account and the points made by Ms Gibney. We have to be very careful about what is realistic and what we can do at a particular point. We want to be ready to support the protocol before we ratify it. I have a concern that if we attempt to ratify the protocol before we are ready to give expression to it, we will run into difficulties in that regard. My particular concern is to make sure the decision support service is actually in place as opposed to it simply being provided for in law.

I stress it is ultimately a Government decision when this can and will be done. I am listening very carefully to the views of the committee as to the timing of it. As I said earlier, our original timeline was in the context of assuming the UN reporting cycle would be to roughly the middle of next year. That is the basis on which we were pitching implementation of the optional protocol. We are still at that timeline in my mind because of the importance of the decision support service and having it in place. Obviously, we need to take advice from the Attorney General's office as to the legal requirements relating to this and Government needs to make a decision. We will not, however, be found wanting in trying to press ahead with everything that is required for the optional protocol as soon as we possibly can. I absolutely take on board the concerns to do that as soon as possible. I just want to get the sequencing right. I know Government is committed to doing that as quickly as it possibly can.

With regard to the budgetary side and equality budgeting in particular, our Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are jointly leading an equality budgeting initiative that is looking at the equality impacts of budgets. That is a very important component which we have not been able to do in the past and which we are now pressing ahead with. We did it on a preliminary basis last year and we are moving much further on it in the current year. That is important.

In terms of bridging the gap between Departments and so on, I would mention the transitions working group, which will meet on 23 June. That is aimed at bridging the gap and trying to ensure smoother transition, for example, between education and employment and the transition from education into employment. We are working on those areas as much as we possibly can.

Senator Higgins also asked about how we encourage other Departments to work with us and deliver their side of the bargain, so to speak. We work closely with individual Departments. The best example I can think of a positive area of progress in which I have taken part recently involved Tusla - the Child and Family Agency - and the Health Service Executive with regard to supports for children with additional needs. A set of issues were identified by the Ombudsman for Children over a period where there was a clear difficulty in transitions between Tusla-based and Tusla-funded services and those for the HSE. I am pleased a protocol has been developed and is now being implemented successfully. Previous issues with regard to gaps and a lack of transition between agencies have been satisfactorily addressed, in my view. I am not saying everything is perfect but it is an example of where we can encourage Departments and agencies to work together and show this can happen in a meaningful way. The protocol on the disability side has been a good example of that. It has meant smoother working and transition, particularly for children with a disability as they move towards the age of 18 into young adulthood, where there was quite a gap and quite a difficulty because of the responsibility of different agencies.

We will continue our work in that regard. We are acutely conscious, both here and in other areas of our brief, of the difficulty in securing a good join between the responsibilities of different Departments. The last thing we want are interdepartmental disputes or disagreements as to who is responsible for what. We tried very hard to negotiate and work with Departments to make sure that does not happen and that where there is a grey line as to who is responsible for what, we can sort that out. It behoves us all to do that. Again, I refer back to the implementation plan, which will be an important element in that regard. I hope that covers the essential elements of Senator Higgins's questions.