Dr. Alison Harnett:

The Chairman has raised a number of key questions for the voluntary sector. The sustainability of the voluntary sector is something we have called for in our response to the disability action plan 2022-2025. With respect to the relationship based supports, people who have a disability are often people who are supported throughout their lifetime by the voluntary service providers. That continuity and relationship based support is very challenged when there is a large turnover in the volume of staff and there are particular challenges for our entire sector. Currently, there are staffing recruitment and retention challenges throughout various sectors but we are experiencing it very acutely in the disability services. That is challenging our ability to move forward with some of the issues about which we spoke this morning. There are particular challenges for different sectors within our membership.

Given the current challenging recruitment environment, and the Chairman referred to staff increments and pay, recruitment is an even more acute challenge for section 39 organisations. While we very much welcome the pay restoration process that has been in place, the gap between section 38 organisations and HSE funded services and those provided by section 39 organisations continues to grow. The ultimate problem with that, with respect to a person supported by an organisation, is that the level to which an organisation can expect its staff to remain and be sustained should not depend on the funding arrangement in place with the State. We consider there is a need for a workforce planning stream within the disability capacity review action plan that would take account of the entirety of the sector, regardless of which funding arrangement is in place with the State. All our members are very challenged with respect to staff recruitment and retention. There is also a need to specifically examine those issues that are particular to section 39 organisations.

In terms of insurance, access to the clinical indemnity scheme would be the ideal solution for those service providers which cannot access it currently. That would alleviate some of those difficulties to which the Chairman rightly referred.

In terms of the community focus our organisations bring, we have voluntary service provider boards and community connection throughout every village and town in Ireland. We need to be able to maintain those staffing levels to be able to continue to make connections and provide that relationship-based support. We believe there is significant importance attached to the independent review group dialogue forum with respect to teasing out some of the issues, to which the Chairman referred, and ensuring the value of the voluntary sector, as identified by the Catherine Day report, is reflected in the working through of the relationship between the State and the voluntary sector. We are committed to the implementation of the recommendations in the Catherine Day report and are very much engaged in the dialogue forum. We are hopeful of very significant outcomes from that process to deal with those issues about which the Chairman spoke, which are around understanding and valuing what the voluntary sector brings to the State with respect to disability services.