Dáil debates

Wednesday, 25 May 2005

Disability Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed).

 

4:00 pm

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

That comes as a huge surprise and I am deeply disappointed. In regard to amendment No. 64 I do not want a person who happens to have a disability to be assessed at different stages. The Opposition wants to ensure this is smooth seamless legislation that is not too bureaucratic. That is what that amendment is about. I would hate to think a person would be assessed two and three times when clearly one proper assessment would have been enough.

I agree with what the Minister of State had to say on amendments Nos. 116 and 118. This whole section is about the accuracy of assessments only. The section says nothing about adequacy. The difficulty at the end of the day is that whereas people may find the statement is perfectly accurate it may be completely inadequate. I did not expect the Minister of State would accept these amendments but I did expect they would be understood. It should be possible where a service statement is inadequate for the executive officer to say that area was not looked at properly and should be looked at again. I do not mean the entire statement but where elements of the statement are inadequate it should be possible to look at them. That is what these two amendments seek. I accept fully what the Minister of State has said in the case of an inaccuracy that the Bill deals with that issue perfectly. However, it does not deal with the fact that it may be inadequate. At the end of the day we will be looking at service statements that will be inadequate as opposed to inaccurate. There will be such a concentration on how these service statements are compiled that they will be perfectly accurate and that is why there will be no——

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