Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh mo chomhghleacaí ó Ghaillimh, an tAire Stáit, an Teachta Rabbitte. As we all know, this Bill essentially transfers responsibility for disability issues from the Department of Justice to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. My first observation is to express concern about the accumulation over time of responsibilities by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. What began as the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2011 has now transformed into the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, as of the formation of this Government. I am sure I am not the only person who is concerned that the Department is slowly being turned over time into a silo for various insoluble problems hived off from other Departments that might be secretly glad to see the back of them.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs was originally established to provide a laser-like focus on the major problems which existed in that area. If people had been told in 2011 that it would eventually have responsibility for dealing with direct provision and for preparing for the arrival of refugees from war in eastern Europe, I think their eyebrows would have gone out on stalks. Yet that is the position we have today. Since January, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has issued statements on issues as diverse as climate change, the gender pay gap, homelessness, Storm Eunice and an OECD report on what are described as gender norms.

I say this not to criticise the Minister personally, but it seems that because the Department covers the briefs of equality, youth and integration and concepts whose definitions are often in the eye of the beholder, it increasingly has a roaming brief covering everything and anything on which it wishes to intervene. I am not sure that makes for good government or good use of taxpayers' funds. I say this and raise the issue following on from Senator Buttimer's laser-like focus on real issues of human welfare just now. That laser-like focus which the Department originally had seems to me to be in danger of being lost in favour of an increasingly scattergun approach.

The handling of the disability brief is of even greater concern. Again, I am making no criticisms of the Minister of State or of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The explanatory memo for this Bill states that it was a key commitment of the current Government that the co-ordination of disability-related issues would be "handled by a senior Minister for the first time". On its own, that sounds very laudable, but I think we should be wary of such commitments. Over the last 25 years, calls for an issue to be handled by a dedicated Minister or Minister of State have been seen to be a tried and tested way for successive governments to be seen to be doing something rather than bringing about any fundamental change in how an issue gets dealt with.

Responsibility for disability has been passed around from Billy to Jack over the last 15 years. It has gone from the Department of Health to the Department of Justice and now on to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, in what could be described as a game of political pass the parcel. I somehow doubt that the music has stopped at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I certainly fear that disability issues will get passed on elsewhere in the years to come, if it becomes politically expedient to do that. Therefore, I hope that the changes being made today will bring about appreciable improvements in how policy is made and that they are not simply being undertaken so that the Government is being seen to be doing something.

As the Minister of State is aware, this Bill amends the Health Acts of 2004 and 2007, which outline the internal workings of the HSE's governance. I will raise an issue in this context that I have raised before and that the Minister of State addressed when I raised it before. It is an issue that I think could perhaps be solved by amending this legislation. Under sections 38 and 39 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE provides funding to groups and organisations to assist them to provide certain services. In May last year, I raised a case where the HSE continued to funnel money to a particular organisation despite it being in flagrant breach of basic company law requirements not having filed audited accounts for three years. The group is not providing any essential services and yet the HSE paid out more than €750,000 over those three years, despite being fully aware that the organisation in question had not produced audited accounts. I think the Minister of State will remember this topic because I think she took my Commencement matter on this issue. The organisation in question, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, eventually had its funding frozen last summer. As recently as last week, it was the subject of a report in The Sunday Times, where it admitted that payments to former directors had not been properly accounted for. As I said before, I do not raise this issue because of the particular organisation or issue involved; I raise it because what we are talking about here, and what we all should be concerned about, is good governance. The HSE has apparently issued TENI with an ultimatum that it will seek a refund of moneys paid unless the organisation's accounting issues are resolved this month. Under the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012-----