Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive and encouraging response. He is answering on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, but would it be possible to send this matter back to her with regard to the inspection of services for adults with disabilities? I can understand the economic difficulties and that there will be a commitment to commence the implementation of the standards, if not necessarily the inspections.

Although we are awaiting inspections, we are in a position to start with some of the homes and centres that provide for adults with intellectual disabilities. The staff cannot be faulted, but some of those homes and centres can be isolated and may not receive any visitors from one end of the season to another. Could an interim measure see a visit by someone from the HSE to say, "Hello"? In this way, someone from outside the homes would be dropping by.