Ms Ciara McKenna-Keane:

On what has been completed in terms of the recommendations we made, one of the main recommendations we made related to legislation. We have heard that the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 commenced in January of this year and is due to be completed in the first quarter of next year. We wanted to see a review of the language within the Disability Act 2005 to make it more needs-based, rights-based and child-centred in concert with consideration of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. Mr. Reid stated that he is also supportive of that. We would like to see that progressed. At the time, we also asked for the establishment of an independent expert group to really move that forward.

I understand that has not taken place as yet. We are seeking the co-ordination of a whole-of-government approach. I know there have been five public hearings at the committee and it has heard from various Departments regarding what has been done. As Mr. Reid stated, much of the need for diagnosis relates to education. Our office is doing a significant amount of work in respect of special educational needs and what needs to be done in that regard because without the EPSEN Act coming into effect, there are no individual education plans. We need to make sure there is co-ordination on a government level. Reference was made to housing and other facilities that children with disabilities need to be co-ordinated.

As regards additional resources that are required, I am not sure that we know at this stage what human, technical and financial resources are required by the HSE in order to make sure the children who have been mentioned by name here today will be in receipt of services in line with their entitlement under the 2005 Act. I am not clear on that. Several figures have been put out, including that €1.1 billion deficit in terms of services. If only part of the €20 million was allocated to disabilities waiting lists on the ground, that is quite a small amount. Much has been said about the €7.8 million from Sláintecare that was put in to clear the AON backlog last year, but that sum is a drop in the ocean compared with what is required. I do not know whether we really have an awareness of the resources that are required to make sure children receive those services in a timely manner.

We also made recommendations in respect of standards. Obviously, the SOP has been discussed at length today. It is heartening to hear that the High Court judgment has been accepted and there will be a concerted effort to look again at those children who received a PTA under the SOP and to make sure they receive services in time, which is the most important thing.

Data collection is another issue we mentioned. There has been progress in that regard. I am not sure whether the representatives of the HSE wish to comment on that. We received a letter from Mr. Reid which states there has been progress on data collection and a new database. What we want to know is who will be able to access that. Will all clinicians be able to access that database and know at what stage in the process is each child they see?

As regards family forums, to which reference was made, that is all supportive of making sure that in the first instance all those children need to have access to their therapies and we need to know what are their needs. Obviously, those needs need to be reinforced within a family or school setting or wherever it might be, but in the first instance they need to receive those therapies. Although we heard that 91 teams have been set up, they are not fully staffed. Until that takes place, we cannot move to stage 2 and expect families to step in and perform the role of therapists.