Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate our guests coming before the committee. One of my questions looks forward while the other looks back a little but also forward at the same time. Obviously, this committee is responsible for finance and it deals with how matters are transposed into law in terms of the taxation end of it. I am taken by the comments of our guests, but also those of the Ombudsman, regarding the scheme, the way it works and the fact that the provision of support is only available to people who already have money to expend. Even if that was got right and it was still based on that type of criteria, that ignores so many families with disabilities. The case that hit home with me was that of the parent of a child with autism. The child was grabbing his parent from behind but, during the lockdown, it was the only comfort that could settle the child. That was taken away from him because the scheme does not provide for the special seat that he needed. That case involved a small amount of money that would transform the child and his siblings. Anyone who is a parent of children with autism knows that it affects all the family. I am digressing a little.

Obviously, we have to come up with our own solution, but is there an international model that has done this better than us or to which we should be looking? I know that our guests indicated back in 2020 that they would not hear appeals but then reconsidered that. Part of the letter that came from the Department or the Minister at that time was read out. In my view, that letter was unfair as it nearly put the responsibility on our guests and suggested they were failing individuals, whereas it is the Department that has failed them over several years. The board did reconsider at that point. Would it reconsider again and get involved? I refer to the expertise our guests have amassed over a long period. Would they get involved under a new scheme? Is there any possibility that they would work under the existing scheme again?