Results 461-480 of 1,150 for speaker:Frank Fahey

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: They are two different roles, which are separate.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: By and large, it is expected that there would be two different people in both roles. I was asked this question in the Dáil, and there is nothing in the Bill that precludes the same person from holding both roles. One would expect that different people will hold both posts.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: There will be no benefit in their being independent because when drawing up service statements they must take cognisance of the situation which pertains within the HSE. A person might have an assessment of need outlining all the needs irrespective of resources. One then considers the service statement, and one must then pick and choose from the assessment statement what can be delivered in...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: It is intended that the administrative measures will be put in place to enable liaison officers to work closely with health service management when preparing service statements and implementing their contents. The liaison officer would obviously be working with the professional health care team in the HSE in the preparation and delivery of a service statement. The officer would clearly have...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: Following consultations with the DLCG I tabled a number of amendments in the Dáil to oblige the liaison officer to review the provision of services specified in the service statement. The regulations provisions in section 21 were also amended to govern the procedures for reviews and the intervals at which reviews would take place generally or with regard to the age of the person, or the...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: The provision of section 12 was to look beyond the health and education sectors and provide a mechanism to allow relevant information to be supplied to facilitate access to other relevant services. The section is a significant and practical response to the concern of the disability sector that the Bill should foster appropriate linkages to mainstream services. Amendment No. 25 would impose a...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: I have sympathy with the Senator's views and if I could accede to her request, I would. The difficulty lies in the fact that we cannot provide a timeframe for a number of different bodies because they operate to different conditions. If we acceded to this provision it could lead to a person being placed at the top of a queue for one type of service ahead of others waiting in a queue. The...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: Section 13 obliges the HSE to maintain records with regard to assessment and services provided under Part 2 to inform service planning. The HSE is also required to present an annual report outlining service needs timeframes within which such services would ideally be provided and the sequence of such provision. I introduced a Government amendment in the Dáil that will ensure the collection...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: I intend to review the provisions in section 13 to examine if it can be expanded with a view to delivering more information on the area of unmet needs. This is due to what Senator Terry said yesterday. I appreciate her concerns in this area. An improvement will go some way towards meeting those concerns by giving us more comprehensive information to enhance services. If possible, I hope to...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: I appreciate why Senators want this change which, at face value, seems like an important improvement to the Bill. However, the requirement is provided for in the Bill when one considers the overall provisions. Amendment No. 29 seeks to insert a further ground for complaint in respect of the contents of the assessment. However, people who consider themselves as having a disability can apply...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: There is scope for that. There seems to be a misunderstanding on the part of Senator O'Meara. If one considers section 9 on page 14 it answers the point Senators O'Meara and Kett have made. Section 9(8) states: A person who has previously made an application under subsection (1) may make a further application if he or she is of opinion that since the date of the assessment- (a) there has been...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: This is a technical amendment to correct a grammatical error in section 15(7).

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: These Government amendments, built on amendments made in the Dáil, respond directly to the specific proposal made to the Taoiseach and me when we met the DLCG on 25 May 2005. The group was anxious to ensure that, in addition to recommending an assessment or a service, a complaints officer would also be able to specify the timing of the provisions. If the complaints officer could not make a...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: The complaints officer is a statutorily independent post in the same way as the assessment officer. As I pointed out yesterday, for example, officers of the Department of Social and Family Affairs are statutorily independent. That they are employed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs does not, in any sense, take away from their independence in performing duties, irrespective of the...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: The answer to that question is to be found by looking at the independence of officers in other Departments across the spectrum, from social welfare to employment appeals and the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, who also comes within the remit of the Department of Health and Children. There is no question but that that post is completely independent of the Department. The same applies to An Bord...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: That is not the substance of the proposed amendment.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: If the DLCG were satisfied with my amendment, I would be happy to propose it. Senator O'Meara's amendment is separate. One cannot have both the Ombudsman and an appeals officer overseeing the appeals mechanism. I cannot accept that.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: The DLCG prefers the appeals officer mechanism because it gives the right to appeal to the Circuit Court on a point of law for a notice to enforce the determination of the appeals officer. That does not apply in the case of the Ombudsman, whose views are final. the Office of the Ombudsman has been one of the great developments of public service provision because no Department in its right...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: That is why I offered the alternative of the Ombudsman, but one cannot have both the appeals officer and the Ombudsman, which is what Senator O'Meara is suggesting.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (15 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: On Report Stage in the Dáil I moved a series of related amendments to allow a limited extension of the timeframe for appeals in exceptional circumstances. Subsection 18(4) allows the appeals officer discretion to extend the period for an appeal on a case-by-case basis where there is reasonable cause shown.