Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let me reassure the Deputy, who knows me quite well, that there are no games on the side of the House and none in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. To be very fair to the team here, to Mr. Colm Ó Conaill, the assistant secretary, and to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. We want nothing more than a functioning system. To be very fair to Mr. Ó Conaill, who is not here, he has put in place a number of working groups to ensure that we can try to get under the bonnet on this. Many conversations are taking place.

The chain of command so long that things are not actually getting through it. Mr. Bernard Gloster is a really good CEO, he is a good guy and he is well-intentioned, but there is no doubt that when he beats the drum by way of giving a direction, that direction is not received to the same extent in all areas of operation. This goes back to the difficulties I had with getting therapists but back into special schools that were funded. The chain of command was not followed through on. It is the same with delivery, assessment, intervention, the key performance indicators, accountability and determining what the output looks like. Until such time as we understand output, we will not address this, but at the moment I cannot do output or hold to account the part I would love to hold to account because I do not have fully functioning teams. At all times when I try to appraise the delivery of a service, I do so with one hand behind my back because I do not have fully functioning services.

Regarding the young lady outside the gate whom the Deputy talked about and who is a very strong advocate, we are failing everybody with the legislation insofar as we are not able to hold ourselves to account. I am referring to the State but also to those we task with delivery. Legally, the task of delivery sits solely with and is central to the HSE.