Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I recognise there are recruitment challenges. The Minister of State might go into a bit more detail on the efforts being made. His remarks were quite general about how recruitment challenges would be addressed. The Minister of State might not be able to answer now on data and I might ask that the Department come back to me on this. Can we get a commitment for an audit of services and need? Can we start collecting data on the number of rejected applications for respite so we have a sense of how many people are on the waiting list? Without that data on how many people are applying, how many have been rejected, how many have been on the waiting lists and how long they have been there, we cannot really map the extent of the issue.

I note that plans for service delivery are contained within government initiatives including the programme for Government. However, as far as I can see there is not very much information on Gov.ie of the tangible work being done to achieve these targets. It would be great to have that uploaded so there is some accountability.

The development of a formal policy on respite was listed in the action plan for disability services 2024-26 but it was not in the programme for Government. Will the Department commit to do so in the lifetime of this Government?