Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment would create an obligation on the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, to produce standards for the assessment of needs. It would give rise to a legal interpretation that HIQA would be obliged to develop standards to govern the assessment process in every detail. The intention of section 10 is that standards would be established for the main features of the assessment process. In the circumstances I do not intend to accept the amendment as it could give rise to excessive codification of the assessment process. I believe there is a clear intention to set standards for assessments. However, I do not believe the proposed amendment would add to that commitment and I do not propose to accept it.

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