Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 57:

In page 5, lines 7 to 12, to delete all words from and including "OCCASIONED" in line 7 down to and including "-CATION," in line 12 and substitute the following:

"OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, TO ENABLE MINISTERS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE PROVISION".

I will be interested to hear what the Minister of State has to say on this issue. My amendment proposes to change the wording of the Long Title to read, "an Act to enable provision to be made for the assessment of health and education needs of persons with disabilities, to enable Ministers of the Government to make provision for services" and so on. I am deleting a number of words which will make it a better Title. I am making the point that we should ensure provision will be made for the delivery of the services. While the services and funding will not be ring-fenced, there is no commitment in the Bill to ensure multi-annual funding. Even though the Minister of State states that multi-annual funding has been in place for a number of years, there is no long-term commitment to this in the Bill. However, the Bill does not provide for a long-term commitment to multi-annual funding.