Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I agree with the Deputy that the current situation regarding services is not what we as a State, we as citizens and we as the HSE want to have in place or that we believe is meeting the expectations of families or the needs of children of the State. In terms of the information that is available, it is important to note that notwithstanding that we are dealing with an antiquated system there is significant investment into a new system which we will be rolling out from quarter 3 of this year. It is right to highlight that there is a gap but I also need to balance it by saying that work is going on in order to improve that situation because we need to have a modern system in place.

The HSE would not be suggesting any diminution of the disability Act; if anything, we would be asking you as legislators to consider how the Act might be strengthened. The difficulty we see with the Act at the moment is that it only places legal requirements for assessment. It does not result in any legal obligations for services to be provided. If we were going to be suggesting anything, we would be suggesting that Government and the State might consider actually strengthening the Act so that the entitlement to service and intervention is treated equally with the assessment part.