Ms Lucianne Bird:

I thank the Deputy for his kind comments. Throughout every episode in our history we have always stayed focused on the end user. We have always set out to ensure quality-assured services that at their heart seek to include people in their community, employment, work and whatever the person chooses. We are always focused on the end user of our services. We work our way through other things that happen.

The Deputy's comments on funding are welcome. There is always a gap between the cost of service provision and the funding available. We work with various Departments, particularly the Department of Health which, in fairness, has provided some funding towards the inflationary costs for 2022. It is one-off funding and the cost of inflation has not gone away. This needs to be discussed.

I want to highlight that the National Learning Network has not had a funding increase since 2011. We are paid on a utilisation basis and a capitation per student attending. We have not had an increase since 2011. We have been absorbing pay restoration and all the costs, including inflationary costs and cost-of-living increases, during this time. People are presenting with higher level of needs. The National Learning Network is financially struggling and we have raised this with SOLAS and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. We are seeking to address it. There is always a struggle for funding in every section 39 body and the Deputy's comments are welcome in this respect. It needs to be addressed. No more than the persons asking for the services, the providers should not have to beg constantly for adequate funding. I will leave this comment there.