Ms Angela Locke-Reilly:

It was adequately staffed. Another point I would like to make is that I sat on the governance board for an intervention as a parent representative. Two of us sat on that governance board, which met regularly. Services were going great, but then, after a while, the PDS system began to break down and people were not doing things the way they were supposed to. The governance board was not meeting as often because people in more high-level positions could not get to meetings or they kept not prioritising meetings. That is what it felt like. In the end, there were only a couple of parents there and a few other people to make up the quorum. Things started to fall apart. When things were working, though, they worked really well and it was great. The PDS ideal is fantastic but it needs to have good workforce planning behind it, good resource management and there must be collaborative practices. It is not possible to work in silos. The HSE's policy is awash with the words "we cannot have silos", but this is all I seem to see. There just does not seem to be enough collaborative practice. This is across the board. It was the same in housing when we looked at the local steering groups for housing disabled people. People are just not working together and it feels like resources are not being maximised in this regard.