Tony Kett (Fianna Fail)

This might be possible in some instances but, when considered, the assessment officer and the liaison officer are the two fundamental people involved. If I read the Bill correctly, the assessment officer is independent and the liaison officer is resource-led. The assessment officer is the person one looks to to give one's assessment without any consideration of how much it might cost whereas the liaison officer is quite the opposite, being the person who is cost-conscious when he or she is setting out one's service statement. A needs officer could not perform these two fundamental functions as they are completely different and at opposite ends of spectrum. For this reason, these two positions could not be intertwined.