Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome what the Minister of State said about maternity cover. This section is about access to information. I received a reply this morning from the HSE. I was looking for details of the waiting lists for early intervention teams because we are all dealing with children who age out of this. The provision of services is very problematic at the moment. I sought details on the waiting lists. The reply came back that the HSE does not have that information. This is information that is with the various section 38 and 39 organisations. How on earth can services be planned for if you do not have basic information and data on the waiting lists? We are told that it may be ready at the end of the first quarter. This goes back to the whole issue in the HSE around its appalling IT systems and how at any one time it cannot say how many staff it has in any particular area or how many are on the waiting list. I am asking the Minister of State to recognise that this is a major obstacle to providing adequate services. What you do not measure does not count, as the saying goes. We need to put proper data systems in place so that we actually know the level of need. Then efforts can be made to match that with the provision of services. I would ask the Minister of State to please prioritise the provision of data so that services can be adequately provided.