Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a great honour to be here and I thank the witnesses for their submissions. They have been very powerful and personal and have given us a lot of information. I thank the ESRI for this vital report, and the witnesses for the work they are doing. I represent the Government. I was in the Department of Health for two and a half years, and it is only then you realise what the Department of Health does and what the HSE does. There are some great people in the HSE. Like those here, they see it as a vocation. One thing I have noticed is they like good governance and good data. We are moving towards that situation and a lot of funding has certainly been put in there. However, it is about how that money is spent. There are different ways. Sometimes we have everyone complaining that one size does not fit all and people want a bespoke system. I have heard different views about the way this is delivered. One positive finding in the report was there was a high level of satisfaction with the quality of the existing PAs. That is encouraging to hear, and I wonder if there is a difficulty recruiting and retaining PAs, because that difficulty exists across SNAs, home help and all of that, which is just one area of difficulty. I come from CHO 1, which covers Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. I am aware of Sligo Centre for Independent Living. Those involved have been huge advocates, like the witnesses, in ensuring that the voices of those with disabilities are heard. They also advocate for service users to be part of the policies.

Another area I am anxious to explore is the systems. During Covid, I saw that a lot of Departments worked together, because they had to do so. Instead of working in their own silos and Departments, people are now getting time to stop, think, collaborate and work together. That is what this committee is about; it is about collaborating and working to better hear people's views and, when something is not working, to try to come up with the best approach that service users and everybody else can be happy with. I wonder why those systems are not in place much quicker. Are we moving at a pace where we can do something to assist? Finally, Ms Gaynor's contributions have been very helpful. She spoke about how it is not just about care - it is about going to the cinema, to the shops and to cafes. These are things that are very important. Mr. Walshe said we need an agreed definition and we need consistency. We need to separate this from home help because sometimes we think something is home help and it is not. It is personal assistance. Is there not a ring-fenced budget there? That is the question. Today we have spoken about the Nordic countries. Is there any other country we can follow, which is doing this better? I do not want to go back over what has already been said, but it has been a very important discussion. A lot of great things are happening, but there are a lot of things we need to do better. People talk about Government, the HSE, the Department of Health and centres of independent living. They are not just entities. There are people working for them and doing great work. We need to collaborate to work much better and deliver a better service for Ms Gaynor, Mr. Kenny and Mr. Walshe. That is the most important thing. Compliance, regulation and employers are difficult issues. However, today has been a very important discussion and it has been a start. We need to work together.