Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

From her professional knowledge of the educational sphere which surpasses that of most Members, the Senator will be aware that the Department never had available to it the skills necessary to deliver the services in question in the first instance. The aspiration set out in previous legislation was not matched by delivery on the ground. We could not deliver to meet the gap in respect of possible or explicit responsibility because, from a legislative point of view, we did not have the power to compel people who possessed skills which were not part of the skill set of the Department. Those of us in the Department are not speech therapists. What we are doing is providing clarity and avoiding an ambiguity that would invite turf wars. If there is a failure on the part of the HSE to deliver speech therapy services, both Houses of the Oireachtas and I will be obliged to place the focus of attention at Cabinet level on the Minister for Health because the services to be provided by means of the moneys voted to his Department and, through it, the HSE must be delivered. What we are doing is tidying up legislation which does not match facts on the ground.