Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

This amendment seeks to make sense of the Bill. It is incredible that the officer who performs an assessment will take no account of the availability of resources. The assessment is then passed to another officer who must take this availability into account. The Minister accepts that this Bill will be dependent on capacity, which we all know is not sufficient. There is not a sufficient number of physiotherapists, speech therapists and psychologists to provide the service required under the service statement — we are all aware of that.

The disability community, which held consultations with the Minister over two years, has also accepted that capacity will not be immediately available but it is prepared to allow it to be developed where shortages exist. I do not understand why, for example, the liaison officer cannot take that into account as part of an ongoing process as opposed to once off. Services which are unavailable will not be itemised, which would permit a return to the issue at a later date, at which time services might be available for one hour or three hours per week, or whatever. I do not understand why that provision cannot be included.

The Opposition is making genuine efforts to prevent the bureaucratic mire, which will be introduced by this Bill, from bogging everyone down. It is incredible that layers of bureaucracy are being created, with no indication that services must be provided. That amazes me. The Minister of State will tell me about the €900 million in the roll-over programme for the next five years.

See this speech in context