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

It is also important to say that when we look at respite, it is a broad spectrum of approaches. Ms Andersson is right; the Saturday club can equally be as much of a relief to the family, but it is also important for young people to participate and have somewhere to go. If their sibling is going to whatever form of sport they participate in, that child would have his or her place to go to. We see what Rainbow Club Cork does on a Friday evening. It is also a teens club for neurodiverse children.

We can also look at where buildings are underutilised and perhaps the greater integration of that space for after school clubs. Parents are finding that last piece very difficult. They are able to participate in education, but then they are not able to finish out their working day and find themselves actually having to sacrifice their jobs to collect their children on time. That is some of the feedback we are getting.

Home sharing is another part of it. We actually do very well on the west coast where we have it because of the islands. People come in and want to go to the little blue teapot. They do their level 6 and home share and then go back to the islands on the boat on Friday evening. They partner up with families for two or three years while they come in. What they discover is that when they come in from the islands, some of them might want to stay on. We are looking at supported independent living.

There is much to be done within the respite piece. The policy document takes a broad look at it, but it is also about putting something in place with regard to the personalised budget and asking what the framework looks like and what kind of choice the CHO has. When a parent goes to a CHO and says they do not want overnight respite, but they would like their child to be able to access something like equine therapy, there should be one within each region if that is how they would like their child to spend his or her time. Personalised choice has to be given back to parents as opposed to just saying this is what is available and that is the choice. We need to change the dialogue a little in respect of it.

We are also going to launch a whole piece relating to the capital plan. We have capital plans in the HSE. We know that if you get on it and get moving, you get through it. Now, it might take forever, but we plan to have a five-step approach. People will know what step they are on. The difference is that when the planning comes, people should know the feasibility study and detailed design of the costing would mean the next piece is that funding would be ring-fenced. People should be given the seed funding, however.

Assistance should also be provided for doing the stakeholder assessment and it should not have to come out of the coffers of the organisation. This will allow other organisations, which might not have a big backroom team to support it, to come through and get on with having the design done, negotiating the planning process and have the funding support to allow them to operationalise matters and deliver on meeting people's needs.