Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 12, between lines 42 and 43, to insert the following:

"(d) A person, or a person acting on his or her behalf, who is unhappy with the performance of a personal advocate, may submit a complaint to the Director of the Personal Advocacy Service.".

This amendment is an attempt by Fine Gael to strengthen this very good legislation to ensure that people with disabilities receive the best level of service possible. Unfortunately, not everything works out the way we would hope. In any walk of life there will always be complaints or people will be unhappy with the level of service. This Bill does not provide for a mechanism to make a complaint by an individual who is unhappy with the level of service. This is a failure in the Bill.

Everybody should be entitled to bring a complaint to another body. People with disabilities are the most vulnerable people in the community. When legislation is enacted and significant sums of money are provided to ensure that services and qualified people are available, it makes sense to go that one step further to provide a complaints resolution service. This service is available in other areas and the ombudsmen do excellent work. It would strengthen the Bill if such a mechanism were to be provided and this amendment would do so. I ask the Minister to consider it favourably.