Mr. Brian Smyth:

The Senator’s experience reflects what we see and hear every day on farms. Our core funding for the national network is from the Department of agriculture and comes through a tender process. That means we have development officers throughout the country with our colleague local development companies, of which we have five at the moment. The Department has tendered three times, most recently in March, and we have won that tender for the next five years. I offer thanks to the Department, the former Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the current Minister, Deputy Heydon. That funding was increased last year and for the next five years to a level that is reasonable to allow us to develop the core.

The other element of what we do is to cover the costs of farmers. Farmers are providing a valuable support to a wide range of vulnerable people across the country. That is valued by the commissioning agent that commissions the placements. The placements vary for different people.

Those engaged in mental health services are on a journey of recovery. That may mean a number of placements, but they are time limited to 12, 20, 24 or 40 weeks. They may be repeated. They are based around a plan, which is reviewed. Some people access a couple of placements or numerous placements. Other people take-short term placements. In recovery, people are on a journey. They may progress beyond the support they need.

People with disabilities in particular need longer term placements. That is an issue for us because there is no such thing as personalised funding in Ireland to the extent there is in other European countries. The person with a disability does not have access to a personalised support or budget plan. Rather, funding is given to one of the big disability organisations and it more or less decides what happens. The freedom to make that choice and control, which is core to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is not-----