Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 16, subsection (3), between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following new paragraph:

"(b) The public body shall communicate with the persons in this subsection the information regarding services that may be provided by the public body that it considers that the applicant is entitled to, as soon as practicable after receiving the assessment report, but within a maximum period of 6 weeks after receipt of the assessment report.".

This amendment aims at achieving a timeframe within which a service can be delivered. I refer to page 16 of the Bill, where it states in section 12(1):

The liaison officer who prepared a service statement may, with the consent of the applicant concerned or, where appropriate, a person referred to in section 9(2), furnish a copy of the assessment report concerned or any other information which the liaison officer considers appropriate to a public body for the purpose of assisting the person in applying for personal or individual services provided by the body relevant to his or her needs.

Conforming with the thrust of what I have been saying to date, my amendment attempts to achieve a timeframe for the delivery of the service. Instead of the liaison officer handing over the service statement to a public body for the delivery of the service, I ask that a timeframe be provided during which that service should be delivered, and that the period should be no more than six weeks after receipt of the assessment report. I ask the Minister of State to consider accepting the amendment.