Mr. Michael Hennessy:

I would like to address the three points the Chairman raised when summing up, namely, staffing, insurance and the sustainability of the voluntary sector, and I will deal with them individually.

In respect of staffing, certainly our member organisations are reporting serious difficulties with staffing. Maintaining services, which are very much human services and people dependent services, is a real issue. Our sense is that it is probably a medium-term issue. I do not think this issue will disappear with the pandemic unemployment payment or the Covid-19 crisis. It is more complex. There is a significant job of work to be done for our sector and member organisations on how we attract and retain staff into the future. We will have to work harder domestically on that and we will probably have to consider overseas recruitment. This will be a medium-term issue, particularly if we can persuade the State to resource the unmet need identified in the capacity review. That will require a significant uplift from a base where we are struggling to maintain what we have. There is a considerable job of work to be done in that regard.

Insurance is an ongoing issue for many people who are providing services. The nature of disability services is that they have a risk profile. Many of the organisations which supply those services are relatively small. Therefore, their negotiating power in getting insurance is limited. I will mention two issues in that respect. As well as the clinical indemnity scheme, the general indemnity scheme operated by the State Claims Agency has been extended to some disability service providers. It has proved enormously helpful when it has happened. If that could be widened, it would make an enormous contribution. There is the wider issue of competition for some categories of insurance. If one is lucky, one will have one underwriter. They can dictate terms to organisations. There may be a case to be made for setting up a collective purchasing scheme. Regardless of whether that would be organised on a statutory basis of privately, it would contribute.

In respect of the sustainability of the voluntary bodies, the relationship between the HSE and the voluntary service providers during the past ten years probably has not been as good as it is now. There has been a very heavy focus on governance which is necessary. Public funding is being provided and there must be accountability for it. There has not been enough of an emphasis on partnership working. That improved significantly during the course of the Covid-19 crisis. However, we should not rely on a crisis to fix these things. We cannot assume that just because it has improved during the Covid-19 crisis, it would stay that way. There is a body of work to be done by the HSE and by the voluntary sector to improve that relationship and particularly to get partnership working on solutions. We attach considerable importance to the dialogue with the voluntary bodies being chaired by Peter Cassells. That needs to produce outcomes that sustain the recent improvement in that relationship.