Ms Cherie Tyner:

There were a couple of questions related to our funding, of which 70% is through selling our evidence-based training programmes to services across community health, education and disability. That also includes our supervision and outcome tracking packages. The rest we raise ourselves. We invested €90,000 of our reserves in development of the Parents Plus special needs programme, which is for families raising a child aged 11 to 24, with an intellectual disability. That is because the child could be going through adolescence earlier. However, with an intellectual disability the child could still have those needs at 23 or 24. From fundraising through different sources we secured €200,000 and used that to sponsor services across family resource centres and education, and any service that was coming into contact with families with intellectual disabilities. We are trying our best. We are probably one of the only charities in the country with such a significant impact, but which does not receive one service level agreement or arrangement. I have been knocking on doors. I have been contacting Deputies, Senators and everyone. I actually do not know whom to speak to. All I was told was that at the moment disability did not fall under this person or that person. We are not here today to criticise. I am delighted to see Mr. Buttery. I think this is about all of us coming together. We have solutions relating to what the Deputy has referred to with those parents presenting to her. I have extended family who have done the exact same thing. They go to a Deputy because they are at their wits' end.

It is the reason the programme was developed. My colleague, Dr. John Sharry, who is our clinical director, spoke succinctly when he said that doing the focus groups and developing this programme with families affected by intellectual disability and the services set up to support them, has been a humbling experience given what they are having to experience. Families are worried that they would be criticised and they are worried that their child would be demonised. There are worried they would be excommunicated from the community. Mr. McSweeney and Ms Kerrigan can speak about this more validly than me. I am just articulating the stories that were told to us. For example, perhaps there are sexual difficulties because the child does not understand that he or she is in a public place, and maybe the child might masturbate or they might punch somebody. These are the stories we have been told. Parents are really worried that if they said anything to the services they would be before Tusla. Parents are isolated because the child is going on a bus to school and they see nobody. We develop the programme in response to those needs.

The programme has all of the topics that the parents decide have decided they need. When one asks is it relevant to the Parents Plus special needs programme, PPSN, structure, it could not be more relevant. It supports and enhances all of the principles of Progressing Disability in the context of family-centred practice and evidence base. As a charity we are building the capacity of professional teams in terms of their ability to track outcomes and evaluate. For me personally - and maybe I am not going to help myself here - I hate waste. I hate wasting money. We set up as a charity so that we could provide these programmes at low cost so they were affordable for all services. From that perspective they absolutely fit in, support and enhance the delivery of Progressing Disability.

There was another question. Perhaps Mr. Buttery could come in here.