Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank our guests for their presentations. They all identified the same issues. The first of these relates to staffing and the pay parity issue, or the pay disparity that still exists, especially for section 39 organisations. I know Mr. Meany said that Delta Centre is a section 39 organisation. I do not know whether Ability West is under section 39 as well. The WRC agreement from last October has not been honoured. I followed up on this issue, which is really affecting day services in my constituency, and was told there were supposed to be more talks this month. Has there been any update or progress in that regard? I know the staff retention and recruitment issues do not just apply to section 39 organisations as there are also issues within the HSE-run section 38 organisations. Mr. Meany made the point that people are moving away from careers in social care. Why is that the case? What can be done to address it? Is it just a lack of people qualifying in those areas? Is it something that needs to be addressed at third level? Are there other issues that are affecting it?

The witnesses also referred to assessing the changing needs of service users. Some of this is due to age or to other changing circumstances. What will address that? Is it more funding, a change in the model or a change in the approach to doing that?

As regards school leavers, it was previously the case that some 18-year-olds left school and went straight into a service which they never left. I welcome the fact that there are new initiatives out there and that many more young people are going on to higher and further education. I hope to see an expansion of that. It is unfortunate that there does not seem to be career guidance in special schools. That is an awful miss and we need to consider it further. I know from engaging with parents in Cavan and Monaghan in particular, especially those whose children attend the special school there, that the day service and training units there are at capacity. Even if they were not at capacity, they are not suitable to some of the children who have more complex needs. There is a level of unmet need there within the service provision. We need to look at all of that. We need to look at more young people going into higher and further education. Some young people will go into the current services but it may be that more of them will need something a little different as well. Do the witnesses have any thoughts on that? I will leave it at that.