Ms Áine Flynn:

The preparedness of other stakeholders varies, to be honest. The HSE group, for example, is a small team but it has been doing a great deal of work since before I came on board to reach out across health and social care and to educate people about the provisions of the Act and the cultural change the Senator mentioned. I think that, broadly speaking, there is receptiveness to that.

As for the practical preparations, as I mentioned earlier, it would be very beneficial if the Department of Health had a mandated single point of contact to co-ordinate its preparations, but thus far that has not happened. The Department is represented on the interdepartmental steering group and I acknowledge it is busy at the moment with a variety of concerns.

There is the potential for the health and social care sector to be most affected by the Act so it would be useful to have a sense that somebody is steering all of the preparations.

We meet a diverse range of stakeholders and I find that I generally have to go back to first principles every time, which I do not mind because this is complex and new stuff. The number of people who understand the Act and feel ready for it is relatively small. That is to be understood and we need to work with people.

In terms of a huge change in mindset, that landscape is improving. We often speak about a cultural shift but it is important not to overstate that. I am aware of a growing receptiveness to change but some people have reservations and it is important that we deal with them.

We are considering awareness raising of the importance of having an accessible and very much public-facing service so that people feel they can engage with us. We are already open for questions and are more than happy to take them. We get questions all of the time and our website provides information on the Act. We also have a section on getting ready that we endeavour to keep updated so that people feel prepared.