Results 681-700 of 1,150 for speaker:Frank Fahey

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. (14 Jun 2005)

Frank Fahey: It will, as part of the HSE service planning exercise. Anywhere there is a gap or vacuum will become apparent. Those vacuums are already apparent and the intention is that the service planning will plan for the provision of the services where they are inadequate or are not provided at present. The other part of the amendment to which the Senator referred has also been dealt with. Rather than...

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

Frank Fahey: Amendment No. 17 would require the assessment officer to carry out an interview in all cases. It is desirable that some discretion over procedures remains with the assessment officer so the individual circumstances in each case can be considered. It may be the case that an interview is simply not required. If so, to accept the amendment would only add to the bureaucracy we want to avoid. The...

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

Frank Fahey: It will cover those carried out within three months of the application.

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

Frank Fahey: That will be set out in the regulations. Each form of disability will be covered by the regulations in terms of the timescale by which the assessment can be completed. The urgency of priority of particular types of disability will be provided for in those regulations. Cases of high priority will be seen immediately, as applies at present. This will be further copper-fastened in the Bill. For...

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

Frank Fahey: Yes, that has been confirmed. The amendment seeks to oblige the Heath Service Executive to complete assessments within three months but this may not be practicable in every situation. For example, a situation which involves a complex condition, or combination of conditions, may require the engagement of particular skills and professions in the assessment process in order to ensure that all...

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

Frank Fahey: I said that the assessment must commence within three months of the application. The completion timescale of the assessment will be outlined in the regulations.

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

Frank Fahey: Each person is entitled to an advocate who acts on their behalf in addition to relatives or any other concerned person or professional. We are satisfied that everybody is adequately covered. There will be an onus on those who run institutions to ensure that everybody is given the opportunity to have an assessment. The regulations will outline the procedures for assessment and how they should...

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

Frank Fahey: The Bill provides for anybody to apply for an assessment.

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

Frank Fahey: Any employee could decide to apply on a person's behalf.

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

Frank Fahey: It is essential that the assessment officer is independent. In the case of the liaison officer, it is equally essential that he or she is part of the executive involved in managing the needs of people with disabilities, within the practical constraints applying to them from time to time. This is in keeping with the role of the liaison officer, which is to prepare a service statement that is...

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

Frank Fahey: No. There are two different and distinct roles but both could conceivably be carried out by the same person. The first one, governed by statutory independence, is to be able to provide a service statement of all a person's needs, irrespective of resources or any other constraints. The second role is service provision entailing the preparation of a service statement, which is deliverable and...

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

Frank Fahey: That is the role of the liaison officers, who are part and parcel of the HSE. Their role is to put together the contents of the service statement, which is what will be deliverable to the person involved. That is a separate role from the assessment officer who is statutorily independent. There is good reason to keep the two separate, ensuring independence on the one hand, with a clear...

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...