Mr. Hugh Doogan:

I will follow up on the point on funding. The work we have done in the initial roll-out, as part of the INTERREG EU-funded project, is based on interagency collaboration between the community and voluntary sector and the statutory sector. We have had very good support from the HSE and Tusla and this continues in the roll-out in Louth and Meath. A positive element of the EU-funded project is that it has multi-annual funding. This has given us the time and space to get our teeth into the project, roll it out and evaluate it, which is critical. A summary report of the evaluation is included in the documents we sent to the committee and I hope members have had a chance to look at it. It clearly outlines the outcomes from the project.

We initiated a conversation with the HSE about rolling out the project further and looking at making it mainstream. Then Covid-19 happened and obviously the HSE's attention went elsewhere. In fairness, the executive has stuck with us and has been very supportive. The problem comes back to the fact that the roll-out in Louth and Meath has been funded for one year. We have started a conversation with the HSE. Deputy Hourigan mentioned the CHOs. Louth and Meath fall within CHO 8. We have made a proposal to extend the programme to all six counties in CHO 8, which are Longford, Westmeath, Laois, Offaly, Louth and Meath. These conversations are happening at present. This would still mean that only a small part of the country would have access to the initiative. As we heard clearly from the parental testimony in Ms Riordan's opening statement, every community in the country should have access to this programme. We have a long way to go but we are making progress. Our colleagues in the HSE value it as part of Sharing the Vision. Ms Riordan's opening statement referred to 11 recommendations in Sharing the Vision on which we are having a direct impact. We are playing our part and the HSE is being supportive. We are a little bit hamstrung with regard to the one-year funding. It is imperative that as a country we move beyond annualised funding.