John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The chief executive is welcome. It is also good to see Dr. Henry in a different context; we are used to seeing him in the context of the pandemic. I suppose I need to be careful with language. I get a sense that there is not as much space taken up in the room today by ego. I get a sense that there is a practical, pragmatic approach. The witnesses can take that whatever way they want.

The chief executive strikes me as someone with a deep knowledge of the HSE. That comes across in his answers and I wish him well. He referenced the neurological rehabilitation teams and I want to ask about CHO 7, which covers my area of Dublin South-West with Tallaght at the centre of it. CHO 7 was allocated funding by the Minister for Health to establish a community neurological rehabilitation team in November 2020. Responses to parliamentary questions by me about the team stated that negotiations are ongoing to agree a governance model to be able to proceed with the recruitment. We are now three years later. Currently there are only two community neurological rehabilitation teams in Ireland. In reply to an earlier question, I believe Mr Gloster stated that recruitment had been an issue. Has that been an issue over three years? Am I correct that funding is not an issue? Funding has been allocated for it.

When is the HSE likely to establish the inpatient neurological rehabilitation services through regionally managed clinical networks? I ask Mr. Gloster to outline any news he has on CHO 7.