Mr. Damien Walsh:

Whether it is child welfare or social welfare payments, we must think along the same lines as that. The HSE provides resources but the bureaucratic burden on individuals is too much. Therefore, we need to say that here is a resource and trust disabled people and their families to spend it in the right way. Disabled people are not going to use the entire annual budget in a month and then have no access to personal assistants over the remaining 11 months. They will manage their budget in a way that is appropriate to their needs. When reviewing that, it is about saying we do not put conditions around DA, child welfare or social protection payments but get the money and trust individuals will use it to their best needs. We need to put it as simple as possible that when disabled people get a personalised budget or a direct payment that they will use it responsibly, whether that is hours of PA or assistive technology or to pay for some transport costs. It is crucial to simplify things.