Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late in joining the meeting. I was tied up at another meeting but I got here for the first round of questions. I had read the presentations and made some notes. We are at a stage here where our system is fractured. It is under-resourced and it is crisis-only solutions we try to bring forward. The system is fragmented.

I listened to what Dr. Walsh and Ms Walsh said. In terms of getting the whole process up and running in a proper way, reference was made to public support, political will and overcoming the bureaucracy involved when a system is being publicly funded. Our committee is one avenue by which we can inform the public in order that they can support what we are trying to do.

I have a question for whoever would like to answer it or give an opinion on it. The Indecon report published this week probably sets out much of what we all think about the sector, but it brought it together in terms of the cost involved with respect to the disability sector.

Ms Walsh spoke about the services she could get in Galway that were not available in Cork. Other services are probably available in Cork and not available in Galway. We do not seem to have a level playing field and ours is a small island. We have different levels of services in different places.

We are trying to move responsibility for the disability sector from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that in itself involves bureaucratic trauma. I feel frustrated sometimes listening to people tell stories of their lived experience and put into a few sentences what needs to be done. As politicians we need to stop talking about the issues and put the processes in place to change things.

To return to the assets we have in terms of people with expertise who are not here but in other countries around the world, I would have experienced that on a professionally and have thought if only we could get these people home and how we could bring them home. We need to get to a stage where we can give these experts confidence they would be coming back to a system in which they could enjoy working and have a sense of fulfilment in their job rather than having to deal with issues on a crisis basis. Mr. Broadhead might give us some insight on that. Is it all about money at the end of the day? I have been long-winded in making these points and the witnesses might have some thoughts on them.

I feel frustrated when constituents call to my clinics with issues concerning their children. They are caught like a rabbit in the headlights in that they do not know where to turn and there is no clear pathway for them. They fight for something and get an appointment and that is that. Then they have to start fighting again the next day for the next step. There does not seem to be a co-ordinated pattern as to how parents can go down a pathway to improve their child's life. That is a fundamental issue. We can talk politically about ratifying treaties, and all of that is great. People will say money will be targeted at this, that and the other, but we do not seem to be getting it to where it is needed or to be getting the required expertise in to deal with the children.

Mr. Broadhead and any of the other witnesses who wish to contribute might comment on those points.