Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. My apologies. I am joining from my office because I am flying off to another meeting after speaking, but I will read today's transcript to ensure that I pick up everything that is needed.

I thank the witnesses for attending. I would like to say I am surprised by what they have shared, but I am not. I am horrified time and again by the number of children who are utterly let down in terms of the level of care and service they deserve and should be getting. Families must constantly fight for care and services for their children or provide them themselves.

Ms O'Donovan has summed up my thinking. If services can be provided on a small budget, what could be done with a larger one? It is not for the HSE's want of will and funding that these services are not in place.

I will ask each of the groups about a feature. Early after becoming a Senator, I sat with a family who had a baby of only a few weeks of age. I would have imagined that information would have come easily to families, with a wraparound provision of information on services and what would happen after having a baby. That was not the case with this particular family, though. I would be interested in hearing the witnesses' experiences in this regard. I have been working on how the State would do this differently.

In transitioning from primary school to secondary, has Ms Steinmetz had any involvement with SENOs? Has any of that come to her aid? If so, to what extent, or if not, why not?