Mr. Bernard Gloster:

We come up short for two reasons. The first is the sheer demand, volume and pressure against the number of people we are able to recruit to service that. We also have to own that there are always shortcomings in public service organisations, and they need to reflect on how they do their business, their work and how flexible and responsive they are to people. We ultimately only exist to serve them. That is the reason; it is nothing other than that. I could have the same conversation about 75-year-old people on trolleys this morning.

I turn to data and why there is a paucity of the development of ICT systems. Since the time of health boards, which I remember having been in health boards, there has been a paucity of data and ICT systems. The ultimate answer to that is the electronic health record system. There is currently a business case with the Department of Health that hopefully will make its way through to approval to bring that about. We are taking a stepped approach to it in the meantime. However, we are still a way off having the accuracy of data we should have.

On the recruitment obstacle of CORU, I have heard many references to CORU and the time it takes to get registration for those coming from a training college abroad or training in another jurisdiction. I did not hear that the €500 was an obstacle, so I am not familiar with that. I will certainly take it up and see what is behind it.

The Deputy asked if the National Council for Special Education pathway of developing a therapy service in schools cause competition for therapists. Yes, no more than CDNTs caused it for primary care, enhanced community care caused it for primary care and assisted decision-making caused it for acute hospitals. That is just a feature of career choices and professionalism. My colleagues can come back to the Deputy with regard to Meath.

I have no principled objection to the idea of parents training. I am not sure. I would like to see more detail of what is behind that.

I have mandated that the single front door starts in October. I have been around a long time and know it will not be easy. I think I will meet professional objection to it in parts, because people will feel the system is not ready for it. However, if we do not press on with it, we will be talking about it forever.

The NTPF would be an option if private capacity were available to buy and if money was short. The one thing I can say is that despite any deficit I have on the HSE books, I have not been left short of money to purchase assessment of need in the private sector. Mark and Cara Darmody raised this with me previously. The difficulty is that, while I have no principled objection to giving individual families the money to purchase their own, I have a view and strong fear about the quality of what families might purchase. They might be exploited and left open to harm. That is a fear I have. Whether or not it is well placed, it is for others to take that.

At the moment we procure private sector services through a framework. We have a procurement process. A company, a firm or an individual can come on our framework. If they are on our framework, a local area like Ms Queally's or anyone else's can use that to buy assessments. I am informed we have bought up what private capacity is there. I will say this because I will be saying it in a health context in the next few weeks. I have a slight concern. I am happy to do it to clear a list but, no more than with aspects of health, I have a slight concern about what we call insourcing, which is buying our own staff outside of their public time. Unfortunately, when we do that, we run the risk of perverse incentive. That is not to say individuals are malevolent in any way. People will do what they are asked to do. We have opted to use private capacity to clear assessment of need where we can. I believe we have maxed it out. If there are any private providers with credibility who believe we are not using them, I am happy to hear from them. We will assess their credibility and if they are credible, they will go on the framework and we will use them.