Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. In a nutshell, when a function transfers, then it transfers warts and all. I have been in the Department for the last 18 months and I have learned a lot from the experience. I have learned that we produce an inert report and I can only see sight of it on a particular screen, as it is not published. I agree with Deputy Durkan that there are times for getting under the bonnet and calling it out. When we move to the new Department, it will be a case of putting the person at the centre, it will be the rights-based issue and it has to come with that approach. The only way one can do that is when one has an open and transparent approach and that level of accountability. I believe in that and I believe that the new Department is all about that.

To be fair to the Department of Health, with which I have worked closely over the last 18 months, its staff have supported me in that policy development piece while not having transferred and while supporting me in my transfer. I have worked out of both Departments, while at all times wearing the rights-based hat albeit while working through a very medical lens. Let us remember that this is what the Department of Health has funded for many years but that does bring problems. There are problems. There is no doubt but that there are systems that meet the medical needs but do not meet the rights-based needs. I have referred to this already when I used the word "episodes". That is how providers and care deliverers see certain things that happen in disabilities. They see it through a medical lens. We now need to see it more through a social care model and need to adopt a more holistic approach.

Yes, I am moving in the absence of safeguarding legislation but that comes down to a working relationship with the two Ministers. I also have stated clearly that in the absence of legislation coming through the Department of Health, there is nothing to prevent the new Department from bringing forward its own regulations to address safeguarding in disability care settings. We need to have a positive outlook as to where the shortfalls are and not be afraid to address them. That piece is the technical piece. Yet again, to talk to the piece mentioned by Deputy Durkan, we should not fall between two stools if somebody does something in the morning and it happens in the evenings.

I say to Deputy Shortall that there is a concern that nothing will happen on the day, that everything is done in good faith and that there will not be a twist in the tail. I can only trust and believe in the officials of the Department of Health that nothing will go wrong and that what I have known to date will transfer with me because I know it warts and all and I know that there is nothing extra in it at the end.