Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I will make comments on several other issues raised. Senator Seery Kearney raised the issue of the absence of metrics. It is a big challenge. We have spoken at another committee meeting on the work we are doing on this. We have signed contracts and work is under way. We will commence rolling out a system in the third quarter of this year and it will be fully rolled out next year. It will be critical for us to gather data. In this day and age it is not okay that we rely on an annual collection of data with all of the challenges for people inputting and collating it and the time it takes given the importance of the timeliness and accuracy of data. It is an important development for us for all of the reasons the Senator set out. We absolutely agree.

As the meeting goes on this following point may be discussed. Mr. Reid and the Minister of State referenced the work being done to develop a roadmap. It will be completed in the coming weeks. The intention is that it will be very specific on what it sets out and it will be very clear on the short- and medium-term actions that will be required. It is something that will be communicated to all stakeholders, especially families, so they know exactly what they can expect from the services in the next three to six months or year. There will be very clear commitments. This does not take away from challenges that exist for us. They are very real and we have to face them in balancing meeting our legal obligations on assessments of need while at the same time making sure children get the interventions they need. We need to manage this with the resources that are there and establish how we increase resourcing capacity. This is our priority at present and we are working on it.