Ms Aileen O'Donovan:

Can I add one thing? Our service provider has huge problems with the recruitment and retention of staff because they are a section 39 organisation and cannot compete with therapists who are coming out, qualified, and nearly being poached by the HSE. They get their experience through these organisations and they then just go on. Why would they not? They might be doing similar work but they get a different package of terms and conditions. Until there is parity among people who work within disability services, services providers like ours will not be able to compete. Our disability sector is so regulated and governed that a lot of their work is paperwork. A child might be seen for 30 minutes but that is an hour of work because they are preparing, then writing up reports and making sure they have ticked all the boxes and crossed all the t's. The level of governance is fantastic going forward so it takes from the working time.

That is an important point. One of our challenges is that speech and language therapy through Down Syndrome Cork is dependent on fundraising. We never know year to year how much money we will have, therefore it is difficult to build a sustainable model. If you build this specialised group of speech and language therapists, which we are so dependent on, in addition to being dependent on fundraising, and they leave to go to the HSE, it is difficult to sustain it.