Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I might take some of the higher level policy stuff. The Minister of State is very much across the detail of the local issues.

Deputy Tully is absolutely right, and it is similar to what Deputy Costello spoke to us about in terms of the lack of faith parents have in the PDS programme at the moment. That is entirely understandable and something I know the Minister of State has experienced on a national level as she has gone around the country visiting and meeting parents and groups. It is something I see in my constituency as well. Deputy Tully is right that the issue right now is not money. There are two issues. She identified the most important one, the lack of staff, but there is a need to reset the relationship between parents, the HSE and the individual service providers. Some of that will come when there are more staff because those staff who are there are under immense pressure, and we have to recognise that. There are, however, issues even with how parents are written to. We get the letters as well when we advocate in our constituencies as Deputies. When someone is not getting a therapy, we could probably call out what the letter would state because we have all seen those letters so many times. There has to be a recognition that this is not pro formastuff and that these are parents dealing with some of the most traumatic experiences, in their concern about their children, that they will ever deal with. We have to change attitudes there. The Minister of State probably spoke earlier about our welcome for Bernard Gloster taking over the helm in the HSE. We know he has dealt with issues in Tusla incredibly sensitively and we hope to see that culture continue to grow and develop.

To address the issues of staff, the Minister of State and I identified, even before the transfer, the need for the HSE to set out a clear set of actions that would be taken in the short to medium term to show parents and elected representatives that we are moving back on track in respect of the delivery of PDS. That is what the roadmap is. We are looking to see that published soon. It contains those proposals as to how we get in more staff. Some of them are medium-term in terms of more college places for speech and language, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychiatry, but some of them will deliver in the shorter term in terms of conversion courses and master's courses and how we fund them, recognising that they are expensive. If we can get someone in to take them up, let us see if we can fund them. It is a range of issues to try to deal with those staffing issues so we can move away from the 34% vacancy rate nationally, which is such a barrier to the delivery of services.

As regards Deputy Tully's point about a revision or a review of the 2005 Act, we are working at the moment on our work plan. We have about 20 months left, probably, from the outset of this Government, and there are a range of very important issues, many of which we have discussed at this committee or the disability committee. We have the PDS roadmap, which needs to be delivered; the action plan on the capacity review, which is all about setting out how we get the investment across the entire sector, not just in PDS; the European accessibility act; the discussion as to whether we look to progressing the ratification of the optional protocol; the autism innovation strategy; and the new disability inclusion strategy. There is a lot of work there, and we have a job of prioritising. I like to be as up front as I can, and the Minister of State does too. We will not get all those things done in the next 20 months so we have to prioritise what are the most important elements to deliver. We are committed to service delivery. That is what has to be so important because we have fallen so far behind. We are happy to listen to both this committee and the Committee on Disability Matters for input on that, but there will have to be a prioritisation. Everything we all want to do we will have to prioritise because we will not get everything done. The move to this Department is the start of a new process but it is only the start. Whoever succeeds us as Ministers will have to take up that baton, but we want to get some of the basic work done in our time here.