Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of our witnesses for their engagement and commitment. A number of issues were raised. There is the legal definition which is the building block. I take the point about reports. This committee meets once a week to deal with disability issues. In previous times, such discussions only took place once or twice a year. It is hugely important that we have continuous engagement because, irrespective of how many wheels squeak, we need to make sure this wheel squeaks the loudest about the challenges. In our pre-budget submission, we looked at personal assistants and the fact more money was needed. The HSE's personal assistant budget has increased from €80 million to €110 million but it needs to be further increased, which is something that we, as a committee, will carefully consider over the next couple of months ahead of the budget.

There is also the definition of "PA" and the great enabler a PA is. This can have a hugely positive impact on society, on the person with a disability and on the personal assistant. We must use that language of the great enabler to try to get this up and running. It must be properly structured. Someone mentioned people had to navigate the system to get a service which is no longer acceptable. We will continue to work on that.

I thank the members for their engagement and dedication to the job that we have. We will continue to bang the drum or oil the squeaky wheel as best we can. Finally, I thank our team who work on this committee.