Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I thank the Senator. We will try to cover the questions that have been put to us. The primary structure around meetings is the structure at local level, and rightly so because that is where people are and it is the closest point to decision making. There are also national structures, which Mr. Higgins will speak about in the context of the housing strategy and how we work together on those.

I can get a note from our HR department on the issue of the HSE as an employer of disabled people to give the committee a sense of it. There are national targets which we are obliged to work towards in the same way as any other public sector organisation. From our perspective as three representatives of the HSE who have particular remits regarding supporting people with disabilities, the entirety of our public sector responsibility in our work is aimed towards meeting the needs of disabled people. We constantly reflect on how we are doing things. It goes to the train of the discussion right from how we include disabled people in our planning and delivery through to asking ourselves what difference we have made, if any; and if we have made a difference, whether it was the right one. It could be the wrong difference as well. It is something we constantly have to reflect on. We are not always good enough at asking other people to tell us how we are doing. That might be a much more uncomfortable space to be in but it is something we have to be able to work towards.

I will pass to Mr. Higgins to talk about the structures and the decongregation discussion.