Ms Louise Loughlin:

I wish to clarify my point on the funding for the advocacy service. The point I was making was that the funding for disability generally, not just for our service, is still very focused on residential services. Some 65% of the HSE's budget goes to residential services. That feeds into something that Mr. Broadhead highlighted. We have many very big providers. There is considerable interest in disability service provision. It is still driven by a model of people having to fit into the service and it is not individualised. We need to harness things such as the pilot programmes on individualised budgets, which are due to be completed next year as I understand it.

We also have the transition of responsibility for disability away from the Department of Health into the new Department. While I know that is quite controversial, it grounds disability in equality and not in healthcare. Disability is not just about healthcare; it is about a whole-of-life approach. Some good things are happening but we need to work out how to harness that to get to the next level. To get a model similar to what Mr. Broadhead has described it is about building an alliance in civil society and at governmental level. It also requires looking at legislative provisions. People do not have access to services as a legislative right here. It is not a justiciable right to say I need access to speech and language therapy or that my child does. There is no law underpinning it. There are other pieces we could also look at.