Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

On a similar point - and I hope the Minister can clarify this - my understanding from reading the transcript of the Committee Stage debate was that the then Minister had indicated she would bring forward an amendment on Report Stage that would broaden this out to provide that it would not restrict those carrying out assessments to a GP or a nurse, for example. We know from dealing with constituents that these are done by occupational therapists, social workers and so on. I hope that is the intent of the amendment. If so, I do not have an issue with it but if our Labour Party colleague's concerns are correct, I would share them. I thank him for bringing them forward.

On the Minister's point that this legislation provides supports for people who are desperately in need of them and it should be welcomed on that basis. For me, the question is whether it goes far enough and does enough for these people. By that measure, it falls a long way short. The Minister and I will disagree on that point.

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