Mr. Mark Darmody:

Nothing of any substance. Our family has been left to rot. I follow this committee and commend it on everything it is doing, but the main issue for me is oversight of the HSE. Where is the oversight? Let us compare it to the Garda. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Committee, GSOC, has proper teeth. There is also the Policing Authority oversight body. There is nothing in respect of health. When we met him, even the Taoiseach admitted that the HSE was only accountable to its own board. How is that right in 2022?

I was a garda for 15 years and the Garda force is better today because of oversight. If there are issues in the Garda, there are mechanisms to go about handling complaints. Just look at our ongoing complaint, though. It has been lost due to an administrative error. This is what is happening. I am relaying what most parents' experiences are. This is wrong. Even when someone's child is suffering irreparably, parents are treated like an enemy of the State, as I told the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, an hour ago in her office. That is how you feel as a parent, namely, that you have done something wrong. It is like you are the person who has caused this, so you will be the one to suffer more. Why does our son have to suffer continuously?

If everything the committee recommends goes to the HSE for implementation the way the HSE is now, how can anyone say it will be a success? The way the HSE is set up in terms of child disability services is not fit for purpose. There needs to be proper oversight. Every job has oversight except for one, that being, health. Why is that the case?