Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

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 more specific obligation on mainstream providers who are contacted by a liaison officer with regard to the possible provision of services to the applicant by requesting these bodies to communicate with the applicant or representative within a maximum of six weeks.

I have sympathy with the intent of this amendment in trying to ensure prompt attention for applicants. However, as this provision applies to a range of bodies which provide a variety of services, it is not possible to be so prescriptive as to the timing of the response. That response will, in general, be governed by the arrangement for service delivery pertaining to a particular service. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendment.