Ms Nuala Ward:

Regarding emergency placements, the committee will know from us and from everyone here involved with children and families that an emergency does not happen out of the blue. Looking back, the pattern will have been seen. It will have built up over time. Indeed, when we met and spoke with disability managers around the country, they were able to express to us their frustration because they could tell us that they knew that certain families in six months were going to need this service. They felt, however, that there was a failure at the most senior level to accept and understand that these families need support, respite and home support. There just does not seem to be a strategic plan in place. This is why these are the recommendations we have made in the case of Jack in our Nowhere to Turn report. It is why we published this report. This is centred on assessing needs, a plan to meet these needs and seeking money to meet them. We are not trying to overcomplicate matters. This was significant for us. In terms of follow-up, we will engage with the HSE. It has committed to various actions that it believes will address some of these needs. We will be engaging with it before the end of the year to get an update on those actions. Again, this brings us back to accountability.

I turn now to what is important about the ad hoccrisis nature of the system sometimes. I will take two of our cases as examples. We have one young person who, because there was a lack of intensive supports for the families, remained in a respite service for eight months. We then had another child, Lucas, who was waiting for more than a year to enter a respite centre. Two weeks before he was going to get a place in one, it was closed because of an emergency placement. It can be seen that this is what happens. It impacts all across the system.

Regarding complaints, like HIQA, we also advocate for a good system. We try to build capacity by having good complaint handling. I spoke to one mother whose children are now grown up. As she fought the system while they were children, she always told me that when she was at her weakest, she had to be at her strongest. To take on the system, to make complaints, as was said, is brave and is not easy. We do, therefore, have the greatest respect for the parents who have come forward. In many ways, they are representing many other parents who are too scared to complain, which we completely understand.

We as an organisation try to act as a redress mechanism. Families, and children themselves, can come directly to us to make complaints. This is where our investigations stem from, and, hopefully, good outcomes for children. I thank the Deputy.