Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch for this important debate. Deputy Boyd Barrett is no longer present, but I wish to clarify that there are excellent services, that disability and mental health are differentiated, that "A Vision for Change" is separate from the disability strategy and that €35 million has been ring-fenced by the Minister of State. I compliment her in respect of that.

One would imagine from Deputy Troy's comments that Fianna Fáil had done nothing but good for the past 14 years. The reality is that, only for the voluntary organisations to which Deputy Browne referred, we would have no services in many cases because they were competing against the Department of Health and Children and the HSE.

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