David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 38:

In page 10, to delete line 6.

I suggest the introduction of a new officer, called the needs officer. We have discussed this already and many people are concerned at what they regard as a major build-up of bureaucracy. There is an assessment officer and a liaison officer. I suggest that both functions could be carried out by the same person. There is no reason this should not happen. On reading the legislation it is clear that the Health Service Executive could appoint one person to do both jobs. One person must carry out an assessment and draw up a statement which is presented to a second person who must find out what services are available from the Health Service Executive in the face of all types of restrictions. It is difficult to see how this liaison officer can reconcile the needs of the person with the resource constraints and the Bill fails to set out a method or criteria for doing this.

I would like if the Minister of State could come back to me on this as it is an important point. How is the liaison officer to reconcile the needs of the person with the resource constraints imposed? The Bill is silent on this. The liaison officer must find out from the Health Service Executive what money or resources are available. How can he or she do that, especially if a number of liaison officers are working together? How are they to know what is available? We are putting this into the legislation and it is not clear how it will operate. The resources should be defined by reference to needs rather than the other way around. The latter is happening and is another major flaw in the legislation. I know we are up against time, but I want to challenge the Minister of State on this. Perhaps he could deal with it tomorrow morning. I want him to tell me how the liaison officer is supposed to reconcile the needs of the person exactly with the resource constraints. Liaison officers will be told they can only provided a limited amount, as specified in the budget. How is that going to work? It is written into the legislation very tightly.

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