Ms Magdalen Rogers:

The Neurological Alliance of Ireland is working on a project with the Disability Federation of Ireland supported by the HSE. We are mapping the type of services and supports that are provided by the voluntary sector to people with neurological conditions who live in the community. One of the issues that we want to consider is exactly what Professor Hardiman described. I refer to instances where a small charity is located in one region or has one or two branches around the country yet provides national support to patients. The entity might have one office in Dublin or the south of the country yet provide a much wider service. That situation is among the things that we seek to capture in our mapping project. Professor Hardiman made the very good point that there needs to be more of a complexity and nuance around the service level agreements that are in place with voluntary organisations to capture the support that is provided by small charities that have a national reach.