Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy asked about respite and I have made commitments there. Yesterday, I published the €15 million respite investment plan. I do not know whether she has yet seen it, but she will see clearly how the €15 million is being spent among the nine CHOs. In her area, CHO 1, €1.6 million has been allocated this year, which will amount to more over the full year. The €15 million is what was allocated this year but in a full-year cost, the figure will be €25 million. There are a number of buildings in the Deputy's constituency and throughout CHO 1 where that was needed.

It is not just about the type of respite we all know in the conventional sense. There is also the alternative, after-schools respite and the existing services, albeit not so much in Cavan-Monaghan, which I acknowledge. That is why the investment is going in to build a respite centre on each side, as well as the residential, which will go full tilt on five out of seven nights. We already have the buildings there and we do not need to build, and they are included in those packages. I set that out yesterday, rather than re-announce it or anything else. It is what was allocated in last year's budget. It is important to set out the stall in order that people will know what is going in already.

On the section 39 organisations, progress has been made and there are a number of issues to be resolved in the context of the funding stream. Staff will be covered within the scope of an agreement but the talks have been paused to allow the parties to review their positions with a view to developing solutions and highlighting sticking points. Communication between the Departments and the unions is ongoing. When these talks took place this time last year, key wording of "aligned to" was inserted into the proposal such that the section 39 organisations could be aligned. Unfortunately, however, as the Deputy and everybody else in the room knows, when the talks took place, there was a focus on the 8.5% or 9.5% pay adjustment for healthcare assistants, but the figure was multiples of that. Between the Department and the unions, those talks need to focus on healthcare assistants as well as addressing the gap for clinicians.

In respect of the register for DPOs, I might hand over to Ms O'Brien.