Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

This is a good fund but changes to its structure were necessary. The proposed system will be seen to be fair and transparent. It will take on board the expertise on disadvantage and disabilities found in Departments, health boards and other State agencies. It is foolish to ignore this expertise that has been built up by the Civil Service. The Bill takes timely steps to put right upcoming problems. If they are not tackled now, in the future one may ask why it was allowed happen.