Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise that I was a little late arriving. Last night I sat down and read your submissions for the best part of two hours. In all honesty I could hardly bear to read them and then I thought, what am I talking about? These are the lives the witnesses lead. The submissions were very powerful, especially where the different parents of children A-L spoke about the impact on their families. There was one phrase that somebody used which I think will stay with me forever. They said that they were literally living in the shadows of society, that they do not belong anywhere.

It is clear that the members of the committee are very concerned. Some people have lived experience of this. I do not personally. I have family members who do, but I do not. The submissions made me aware of the huge responsibility that we have in this committee, that in 12 or nine months time when we have finished our work that we make progress. One of the good things about all of the documentation that we received from the witnesses is that it included some solutions and some ideas. It referenced the model in Malta and what I really liked about that model was how flexible it is and I would like to hear the views of the witnesses. In the past, in Malta, if they could not get enough people to run the programme they increased salaries to make it worth people's while. As Ms Jenkins said, they include everybody from students, to graduates, to police trainees. They mixed school and non-school, medical and various different sectors to make sure that they could run the programme. We have had teachers' unions in here. We have spoken to others who are all part of this system, including the Minister. We need to try to find a system that works and the Maltese one seems to have a lot of positive aspects. I think the question was asked a few moments ago whether the witnesses believe it should be mandatory and I think Ms Jenkins said that the answer to that is above her paygrade.

I think what the Maltese model allows for is a model where we do not have to say to schools that every single one of them must do it next year, but where we can say we have a model here that will reward those who want to do it. Literally, every day that goes by, when something is not happening to put things in place for next year, is a day lost. I would like the witnesses view on that because there are a lot of pieces to this jigsaw. What do we need to do now so that we are not running after our tails next March, April and May? I thank the witnesses again. They certainly gave me a great deal of food for thought.