Ms Mary Foyle:

As regards the complaints procedure, we welcome complaints. We see them as a means of improving our services and having that quality assurance from the people we support - from families and staff - so we welcome complaints because they keep us in check. Whether it be at the local level or right up, if a complaint is not resolved locally, it comes up along the line. We have the advocacy council. It is a good strong group that keeps us on our toes. It meets regularly and meets with our senior management team to address any issues they are concerned about. We welcome that independent advocate to allow us to see where we can improve and where the issues are arising.

We have talked about EmployAbility and employment. A big problem for us is that a number of the people we support lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people work locally in their own communities, but after the Covid-19 pandemic we found that many of the employers did not welcome the people back. That is a big struggle for us, and we continue to have that issue, but we continue to push boundaries and to find new opportunities for people within their own communities. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the people we support did not return, but we visit, meet and engage with those people at home and welcome them back, probably in a less time-invested, more personable service. They do not want to come into those services where there are the big numbers and lots of noise. Our transport is sometimes at capacity and people do not want to be on the buses. We are in rural areas, and some people can be on a bus for an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening and they do not want that any more. That is where we need more investment in transport, not just buses and the recurring investment, to allow for the contracted routes with the escort. We very much need those escorts as well to support the people en route to our day services. Again, we find ourselves going back out to meet with the person in their own home or in their own locality. There is no pressure for them to come into the particular service location.

I want to address the situation as regards congregated settings. We still have a congregated setting in Galway city where we have up to 100 people coming to one location. We work closely with the HSE on trying to resolve the problem but we are met with the issue of trying to find alternative locations plus trying to resource those locations as well as the resource for additional staff. That is an issue for us at Ability West.