Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am reluctant to give the Deputy a date because if I give him one it is a date I want to stand over. The worst thing one can do in a circumstance like this, other than failing to provide the service, is to give a date that one cannot then deliver. That would raise people's hopes and they would be let down even more and I do not want to do that today. I can assure the House that this is a priority for the new Ministers involved in education, health and disability. Works will have to be carried out to some buildings and a capital budget will be provided for that but even then the work has to be done and that will take time. Also, staff will need to be redeployed back to services and, in some cases, new staff hired, and all of that will take some time. Not all services will be restored at the same time and on the same day. In some places they may come back sooner than in others. I totally understand, appreciate and agree with the sentiments expressed by the Deputy that families are at their wits' end and that people who had been making good progress are now regressing. That is of enormous concern to all of us. We are very keen to get those services back as soon as is possible.

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