Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank all the witnesses who have given us their time today. As Dr. McCarthy has said, there is a need to educate the members of this committee and the wider public about the services that are being availed of. I thank the representatives of the Department of Health and the Disability Federation of Ireland and, most importantly, those who have given their testimony and set out their lived experience. Dr. McCarthy has made a number of requests, for example for additional hours. Can she provide a breakdown of the statistics she has mentioned in this respect? Are the other witnesses seeking additional hours on an individual basis? Perhaps Mr. Toner, in his role as a disability officer in an institute of technology, can clarify what this would mean for people. What real meaning would come from additional funding? I am sure he would like a suite of measures to be implemented. If the request that has been made by Dr. McCarthy were actually implemented, what would that really mean? Maybe Dr. McCarthy can touch on that. She spoke about 500,000 additional hours and 500 people.