Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

An example is the Minister's reference in an earlier version of his speech to the terms and conditions of funding and the new provisions in the Comhairle Act to enable the citizens information board to set terms and conditions for voluntary bodies in seeking funding and to promote the development of high quality standards in the provision of information to the public. The effect of the provisions is that voluntary bodies seeking funding may be asked to demonstrate how they will pursue quality service objectives, and funding may be refused. Show me a service provider in this country for people with disabilities who is not working his or her backside off trying to provide frontline services while being hindered time and again with the need for plans, strategies, quality statements and whatever. This pulls frontline staff away for planning days and service days while at the coalface, the people who need the service, such as social workers in their homes, visiting psychologists and speech therapists are losing this service. We are all too busy writing plans and strategic documents and putting them in language that ensures we do not lose funding or that we get the funding to which we are entitled.

That is the problem. We spend too much time writing bloody books to try to get funding instead of saying: "This is what we want to do, this is how we will deliver and if we do not deliver, you can take the money from us next year and we must find a different way to do it." We need to start proofing legislation. We are creating more and more layers of bureaucracy through which people cannot wade, which is very worrying.

The Minister spoke about reducing the size of the boards. I agree in principle that we may not need 20 people on a board to run a service. I have serious difficulty, however, with his saying that we are to reduce the number of people representing those with disabilities from five to at least three. We should ensure a space is kept on the board for those who represent people with disabilities or for someone with a disability. If extra space is required to do that, it should be provided. Reducing the number on the board from 20 to 15 and reducing representatives of those with disabilities from five to three when we are trying to improve our services to people with disabilities is neither fair nor right. The Minister may have some reason for this but I am concerned about this suggestion.

The Minister defined advocacy as being the act of supporting or speaking up for somebody or, to put it more formally, as a dynamic process of negotiation conducted by or on behalf of an individual who is marginalised in some way. We do not need somebody to engage in this process if the education, health and social welfare systems have responsibility for delivering the services they should deliver without having somebody on the other side fighting for that person. If the Minister worked in a factory where he was expected to deliver 100 units of a product, he would find the manufacturing system simple because it would tell him as the operator that he is responsible for ensuring from start to finish the product would do what it was intended to do. That is how the education, health and social services should work. It should be the responsibility of those providing the service to ensure there is no need for advocates, appeal systems or reviews because people will receive their entitlements.

The real challenge and responsibility the Government and Secretaries General of Departments face is to create a system that does not contain barriers. Such a system would remove the need for advocates. People would be then able to access their entitlements and rights in the way originally intended and would not be obliged to depend on somebody fighting on their behalf to secure those entitlements and rights.

I thank the Minister for listening to my points. I welcome the Bill and commend it to the House. I look forward to seeing if any changes regarding a review mechanism to consider the future operation of the legislation will be introduced.