Mr. Michael Hegarty:

My response may be too critical but I believe some local authorities do not have the will. They are subject to advocacy from so many angles that it is easier to send money in other directions rather than to us. There is also an element of finger-pointing by Departments, from the Department of Health to the Department of housing, on who should support persons with disabilities. They are falling between stools in that regard. This could be one reason the model is not working. As Mr. Doyle said, there needs to be an element of ring-fencing for CAS funding, retrofit funding and other funding, but responsibility should all be transferred to or put under the Department responsible for disability, the Department that knows about this. There are too many Departments involved, creating such difficulty for us because we all have to find out how the Department of Health works in this matter, how the HSE works and how the local authorities work. We operate across two local authority areas. It comes down to there being too many people involved in trying to deliver one outcome.