I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, to the House.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
National Monuments
I welcome the Minister of State. This will be the sixth occasion I have raised the issue of the national monument on Moore Street. The national monument is the birthplace of our Republic. It is where the last surrender took place in 1916. It is an incredibly important location, historically, socially and culturally to us all and to our Republic. I hope the Minister of State is coming to the House with an update on progress that the State is making on restoring the national monument and creating at that site on Moore Street a commemorative centre to commemorate the heroes of 1916; to commemorate the birthplace of our Republic and to commemorate the fight for freedom and independence that we all enjoy today.
As well as being the birthplace of our Republic from a political and governmental perspective, it is one of the country’s oldest trading streets. It is one that has a rich history of commerce and trade. It is a street that has been sadly neglected for far too long, primarily by the local authority but also by those who own properties privately. It is a great shame to this city that Moore Street is so neglected and derelict looking and lacks the energy and attention that a street of its stature deserves. I am hoping the Minister of State will inform the House today on the progress that the State and the Government, and the OPW, are making and that he can give the House some hope and certainty that in the very near future the monument and commemorative centre will be open and that investment will be made on the street to bring it back to life and to restore it to its former glory and make it once again a vibrant trading street; a hub of activity and commerce and a hub of social interaction.
It is a part of the city and country that is incredibly diverse. Its diversity is part of its great richness and strength. The cultural opportunity that exists in that part of the city is enormous. We need to foster it and support it. The State needs to encourage it. A big step in that direction would be the opening of a commemorative centre. It would act as an example for how the State and we as a country value our culture and heritage and those who came before us. It would also act as a beacon for what can be achieved into the future of a Republic that is diverse, equal and democratic. I really do hope the Minister of State has a positive update for the House this morning.
Even as a culchie, I can agree with everything Senator Fitzpatrick says about the cultural and historical value of Moore Street.
I would like to thank the Senator for her tireless campaigning for this development. It is the sixth time she has raised it in this Chamber and the second time with me. I know her work on the Moore Street advisory group has been key to the progress. I am happy to give her an update on where we are at and what is coming but first I wish to pick her up on one comment.
I love Moore Street. I grew up going down Moore Street and Henry Street. The Senator will be no different herself. It was just part of our childhood and going into do shopping in Henry Street or O’Connell Street, popping down to see the traders at Moore Street. I want to pick up on something the Senator said. Following the very sad night of riots in the city before Christmas, I was required to spend a lot more time in that part of the city and it was an honour to be required to spend more time there and with the traders and shops of Moore Street and that area.
The Senator is dead right; it is a wonderful place. There is a lot of diversity, and while it is the cradle of our Republic, for me it is also very much the blueprint of what our Republic should look like in the next 20 years. It deserves that attention from both the local authority and central government. I echo those sentiments the Senator made and underline my personal commitment.
As she will be aware from previous statements here, the OPW has engaged a professional design team to progress the Moore Street project. These parties have for the past several months been engaged in a complete review and reappraisal of the project, taking into account the lapse in time since the earlier phase of work and addressing additional requirements of building compliance, sustainability and other factors arising in recent years since the project went into abeyance. Additionally, it has been engaged in a fresh reappraisal of the surrounding development landscape in Dublin 1.
As the Senator will be aware, a number of planning applications are in train in the immediate area around the Moore Street houses and these will, when they have been resolved, have a significant impact on the work of the national monument. This is especially important since it is clear these developments will, if they proceed as planned, alter the approach that had previously been envisaged as regards one of side of the commemorative site and will mean a large part of the earlier project in that location will have to be redesigned. However, given a number of these matters are under appeal to An Bord Pleanála, that issue is somewhat uncertain.
The review and reappraisal work concluded late last year and, as might have been expected, has given rise to significant adjustments to the project. This was done in a vacuum, given there is still no resolution to the five planning applications that surround the Moore Street houses on three of its sides. However, the OPW has continued to press on and has tried to plan for the project as best it can. Although the indicated changes are largely technical in nature and will certainly not affect the outcome of the project overall, they are nevertheless important in that they will necessitate some significant replanning of the work involved and will have a time implication. Following the presentation of the work of the design team before Christmas, these matters have been considered by the OPW project team, which has issued instructions to proceed. The future phases of work that need to be organised have, therefore, in recent weeks been programmed and work on the next phase is under way.
I appreciate that the Senator may be disappointed the project is taking time to advance. I share that disappointment but I caution that we are trying to bring forward two projects in tandem, one involving in the legacy buildings in Moore Street and the other a full new public building on a site to the rear of No. 15. Either of these projects on their own is a substantial undertaking but we are attempting to bring both forward together in an uncertain development landscape and this presents a considerable challenge. I should caution that the project is still in a potentially vulnerable position as regards any unforeseen issues that arise and any dates I advance at this stage must be regarded as provisional and subject to later change should the circumstances change. Nevertheless, given what we know now, this is the timeframe the OPW expects. A number of other matters have been addressed by the OPW most recently to progress the project, and while I would like to share them with the Senator, my time is running out, so I might do that in my supplementary reply.
I thank the Minister of State for his interest in Moore Street, his response and his presence in the House. The reply is very disappointing and concerning because it indicates the State continues to wait for private owners and developers to determine what they are going to do, if they are going to do it. I appreciate those private owners are at the mercy of An Bord Pleanála and those who engage in it and that we have a planning process that needs reform, which we are in the process of doing, despite all the Opposition prevarication on that matter, but in the meantime the birthplace of our Republic is crumbling. The dereliction is shameful and the OPW needs to move forward. It needs to stop waiting for private owners to have the outcome of their planning applications determined. These planning applications may never result in one brick being laid or in anything being built. This is not the first time there have been planning applications on the adjacent sites and I am sure it will not be the last. Even if permission is granted, who is to say that developer will have the funding or will not flip the site? The State needs to step up, value our heritage and this site and get a move on with delivering a commemorative site on it.
I absolutely share the frustration and do not equivocate on that. Apart from the unresolved planning matters, however, significant preparatory work remains to be done, with designs to be finalised, before tenders can be invited. It would be remiss of me or the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, to make promises that might later turn out to have been unduly optimistic, but I will absolute convey the sentiments the Senator expressed.
I want to touch on what has been done over recent months since we last spoke in this Chamber about this issue. Following the public tender competition, an interpretation and exhibition consultant has been engaged to shape and provide key design input into the future visitor experience at the site. This is an especially key role and the OPW is delighted to have secured a leading international firm of significant repute to fill this important position within the design team. A full digital survey has been undertaken and this will provide detailed photographic and digital mapping information that will be a key resource to the project, a complete record of the buildings as they stand and an essential record of the baseline state of the properties that will have multiple uses both practically and to provide a record of the physical fabric. Finally, and perhaps most important, a timber specialist is being engaged to carry out a survey of all the wooden elements within the houses and to provide expert advice on their current state and recommendations to ensure their conservation.
Financial Services
I welcome the Minister of State. The Central Bank has recently confirmed that large numbers of mortgage holders whose loans were sold to vulture funds are unable to use the ombudsman service to make complaints if they are in dispute over the handling of their loans. It is estimated that up to 100,000 borrowers have had mortgages sold to vulture funds, with credit servicing firms acting on behalf of the funds.
We now know that a legal loophole exists whereby thousands of people have no access to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, FSPO, and, therefore, do not have the same rights and protections as others. The loophole appears to have arisen between 2015, when the credit servicing Bill came into effect, and 2019, when it was tightened up to regulate credit services that act for the funds, which have since then been required to register with the Central Bank. The ombudsman is an independent and free service that helps resolve complaints from consumers with financial institutions. The Central Bank has admitted the issue needs to be rectified. It is not acceptable that customers may have serious and distressing issues but cannot complain when they have not had a satisfactory response from the regulated entity.
I understand it is now up to the Legislature to close the loophole. Tens of thousands of people do not have access to the financial services ombudsman and we need to rectify this immediately. People look to the Central Bank for independent analysis and fairness and all consumers should be equally protected. The Central Bank accepts that the ombudsman has determined it is limited in its jurisdiction because the underlying loan owner from the period 2015 to 2019 is not designated as a regulated financial services provider. This is a new determination. Apparently, the system was not aware of that decision until now, so it is urgent that the ombudsman be supported in every way to close that gap. Otherwise, options are limited for those affected.
These people cannot be expected to spend thousands on legal fees and barristers to rectify this issue. People should be able to make legitimate complaints about their financial services packages regardless of the complexity. Right now, the system is not equitable in that if one person is with a vulture fund and another has their mortgage with AIB, Bank of Ireland or PTSB, one can take their complaints to the FSPO, while the other cannot. This is not acceptable and it is time it was fixed. Many of these mortgage holders have had their loans sold without their knowledge or consent. Now they are at the mercy of vulture funds.
This gap needs to be filled immediately, and if legislation needs to be introduced, it should be done as an emergency. I appeal to those vulture funds to treat people with dignity and respect and not to try to gouge them for the last cent they have. That is simply not good enough, and we as a Government should not stand over any mechanism that allows that behaviour to exist.
I am grateful to the Senator for raising this timely and pertinent issue. A robust consumer protection framework is in place in respect of mortgages and other credit agreements.
The consumer protection framework seeks to ensure that all Central Bank-regulated entities are transparent and fair in all their dealings with borrowers and that borrowers are protected from the beginning to the end of their mortgage's life cycle.
In addition, the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman plays a vital role for consumers of financial services in Ireland. The ombudsman is an independent, impartial, fair and free service that helps resolve complaints from consumers, including small businesses and other organisations, against regulated financial service providers and pension providers. The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015 was a key development in the financial services consumer protection framework. The purpose of the 2015 Act was to protect consumers in the situation where an entity regulated by the Central Bank sold or signed its rights under a relevant credit agreement to an entity which, at the time, was not subject to Central Bank regulation. In particular, it made the activity of credit servicing a regulated activity and as such, any entity engaged in that activity, unless it was already subject to the relevant Central Bank regulation, came within the regulatory mandate of the Central Bank as a credit servicing firm.
As the Senator knows, it is the case that a number of queries and potential issues have recently been raised with regard to access to the ombudsman and its jurisdiction. The Department of Finance, in consultation with the ombudsman, the Central Bank and the Government's legal advisers, is currently examining the issues the Senator raised. The Minister fully recognises the importance of all mortgage holders having access to the ombudsman to have their complaints adjudicated upon. He has indicated that he is willing to introduce a legislative amendment to address the issue should that be necessary and possible. In the event that a legitimate amendment is required and possible, the Minister will seek to do this in the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023, which is currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas.
I hope this information is of assistance to the Senator. I share his frustration and anger. I have no doubt that if this needs to be done, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, will ensure it is done as soon as possible.
I thank the Minister of State for his response to this very important issue. As he outlined, all we are seeking is that if these individuals who have had their loans sold to vulture funds, in many cases without their knowledge and consent, feel they have a legitimate complaint to make, there will be someone who will be able to listen to them. Currently, they do not have that avenue or mechanism. Therefore, I respectfully suggest that the Government move fast on this so that people who find themselves in this position will know there is an avenue they can pursue to get fairness and justice.
Should it be necessary, the Minister for Finance has indicated that he is, of course, willing to consider a legislative amendment to address the issue raised by recent ombudsman decisions, if that is possible. In that regard, the Minister has asked the Department of Finance to engage as a matter of priority with the ombudsman and Central Bank on the issues raised and to obtain the necessary legal advice from the Attorney General's office. This matter is being actively pursued in as speedy and thorough a manner as possible. I would absolutely appreciate the Senator's engagement in ensuring this is resolved as soon as possible.
Road Projects
I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to discuss the need for the Minister for Transport to provide an update on progress for phase 2 of the N71 Bandon southern relief road. As the Minister of State is very much aware, Bandon is the biggest town in west Cork. Its population has increased dramatically since 2016. According to the most recent census, it has gone up by 17% to over 8,000 people. There has also been significant investment in the town in the past few years, including €30.5 million spent on the Bandon flood relief scheme to make the town is safe. We saw the effects of that in recent months. Some 392 properties are now safe from flooding. We had a €21 million investment in the wastewater treatment plant and main drainage, which has been very effective in ensuring the town has potential to grow. A public realm scheme is now under way too. Investment in Bandon in the past ten years has amounted to approximately €50 million.
The big missing piece of the jigsaw is the extension of the town bypass, which is required to make sure Bandon can thrive and move forward. I came across a very interesting article from 30 years ago in the Bandon Opinion, which stated that work had begun on the extension of the relief road and a group of engineers had surveyed the area in the preceding days with a view to creating a proper bypass for the town. That article was published in March 1994. Since then works have not commenced and there has been no major progress on these schemes. I have raised the need for this relief road to proceed several times in the House. I acknowledge the Minister of State is here but I raised this issue in April 2023 with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, in April 2021 with the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, and in 2020 with the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I have failed to get a Minister from the Department to come to the Chamber to discuss it or to come to Bandon to look at the issue. Although it is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, here, I cannot understand why the Department will not send anyone to the Seanad to discuss the matter. I have had four years of hiding, which is not good enough. There needs to be accountability on this issue.
The last time we debated this issue, the Department had a cut-and-paste job done to tell me about the Inishannon and Bantry bypasses. I hope the Minister of State did not come here this morning to tell me about Inishannon and Bantry. We need a progress report on why the Department is not hitting its own deadlines. What do I mean by its own deadlines? The Department previously set out clearly that the project assessment would be completed by quarter 2 of 2023. It has not been completed. The findings and metrics report for stage 2 was also to be finished by quarter 2 of 2023. That has not been completed either. As for the option report on public consultation, that was to be finished by the end of December 2023. It has not even begun. The Department has failed to meet its own deadlines on this issue and the relevant Ministers will not come to the Chamber to discuss it.
The frustration is beyond all belief. We have traffic movements through Bandon that are frightening in many ways. There are more than 14,000 traffic movements through the town every day. The Minister of State was in my office in Bandon. Every day, 700 HGVs pass through because they cannot go up the other bypass as the road is basically too steep. We need to have this investment but we also need engagement. An allocation of €150,000 was made towards this multimillion-euro project in recent weeks. It is not being looked at in the Department, which does not want to deal with or discuss it and the Ministers do not want to come to the Chamber to discuss it either.
Senator Lombard knows that if I was going to start talking about the Inishannon bypass, he would be the first to call me out by telling me it is nonsense and I should know better. I am not going to do that. I admire and I am very grateful for the Senator's constant campaigning on this issue. Having sat in his office in Bandon and having spoken to the local businesspeople and residents of that fine town, I know how pressing this issue is and that the lack of progress on it has not only caused frustration but has stopped the development and modernisation of what is, as the Senator said, the largest and in many respects most important town in that beautiful part of the world. I am grateful for the Senator's constant campaigning.
I will not read out a script that does not provide the Senator with the information he needs. I will refer to a couple of points I think are important to put on the record to frame the debate, after which I will make a slight commitment to the Senator, if that is okay. As the Senator knows, an extension to the existing Bandon relief road - not Bantry - is intended to address a number of issues within the current road. Currently, this road ties back into the existing road network via a very steep downhill gradient. Traffic also needs to negotiate a number of roundabouts and priority junctions within the built-up area. There is heavy traffic on the N71 in this area, with average daily traffic of between 9,000 and 13,000 vehicles. Heavy goods vehicles comprise up to 5% of this traffic. The proposed relief road extension would involve bridging the R603 to remove the steep gradient and the constriction of approximately 2.5 km of new single carriageway tying back into the existing N71 to the west of the town. I said that for the record. The Senator and I both know all of that, having experienced the road in Bantry so many times.
As the Senator also knows, during 2023, Cork County Council held a competition to appoint technical advisers to complete phase 2, option selection, and phase 3, design and environmental evaluation. Assessment of these tenders is ongoing with an appointment expected very shortly. As the Senator laid out, under the national roads allocation for 2024, €150,000 was allocated to this scheme. I will make this commitment to the Senator before I leave the Chamber.
I will write letters to each of the Ministers in the Department of Transport, asking them not only to engage directly with the Senator's office, but to visit the town. I will follow up on that directly, because it is the least the Senator deserves at this stage. More importantly, it is the least the people of Bandon and its surroundings deserve.
The biggest issue is not meeting the timelines. The report the Minister of State mentioned has actually shied away from going into timelines, because they have failed to meet the timelines we have been given by them on a continual basis. This project was quoted as costing €7.2 million four or five years ago. It is probably a €10 million project now. A sum of €150,000 was allocated to it last week, but that will not even pay for the stamps relating to the project, given the amount of work that needs to be done. Engineers were allegedly on site 30 years ago but, realistically, nothing has happened. This meets the criteria the Minister has been speaking about. It is a bypass to make sure that central Bandon can become a more liveable, workable space. We are not speaking about a major motorway here, but about something that is in the programme for Government regarding where and when we spend our money.
The lack of engagement in this Chamber and with the people of Bandon is absolutely appalling. I welcome the Minister of State saying he will write to the Ministers, because their lack of engagement with me on this issue is disgraceful. We need to see action. At the moment, we are seeing nothing on the ground.
I fully understand and appreciate the Senator's frustration. Even though we have seen €58 million in Exchequer funding being allocated to the national road network, both in Cork city and county in 2024, that is of little comfort to the people of Bandon, who simply want to see progress on this vitally important infrastructural and societal project.
As I said, I have made a commitment to the Senator to take this forward and I remain at his disposal. As a Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I know how important this is to local businesses and local workers, so I will be able to bring that opinion, as well as my own deep knowledge of the area. Most importantly, I will also relay the Senator's consistent campaigning on this issue.
Disability Services
I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also want to acknowledge that last night I received a phone call from the office of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to say she would unfortunately be delayed as had a prior commitment today.
There is a trend this morning in some of the Commencement matters that have been raised, because this is the third time I have brought up the issue of assessments of need, AONs. It continues to be an almost daily issue for my office and indeed for people who ring me when they are rightly in despair. I had a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in this House just a number of months ago. I described the waiting lists and figures for the area in which I live. I said there were approximately 2,000 families, but she corrected me on that day and said that the figure was 2,665 families, rather than the figure I gave, and the figure in the official report she was about to read out, which stated that there were 1,320 families waiting on an assessment of need. She described that day as “Groundhog Day”. She also went on to say that this is as bad as it gets. She said that the HSE has not kept pace with the growth in population in the census return. That is what she stated on that day.
Today, I want to concentrate on one family I have dealt with for the past number of years. They are John and Yvonne Creaney and their son, Pádraig. Their son had an assessment of need in 2012 when he was seven years of age. Pádraig has struggled over the years and, given his struggles, his family has sought the best for him by following up to try to get an updated assessment for their son. The family received a letter from the appeals office in November 2021, after years of them calling without being answered. It stated that his review had commenced and that he would be offered a preliminary team assessment, PTA, given the length of time involved since the last one and, most importantly, given the changes in Pádraig’s presentation.
Unfortunately, in September 2020, a reply I received on behalf of the family stated that this young man was highlighted as requiring a review in August 2020. A plan was in place in late 2021 to review his case, using the PTA. As the Minister of State will know, this method had been invalidated. The team stated that it had no alternative for this young man and his case will be highlighted as one of a number of past AONs. I followed up with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in November 2022 and I received the same reply I just outlined. It stated that there was no alternative pathway or formal allocation to review an AON case.
The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, will know that last year, in a debate the Dáil on autism and pathways for assessments of need, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in an unusual intervention, said she was going to change all of this. She said we would have changes to AONs, with the setting up of six units for assessments. It gave hope to families, like the Creaney family in Athy. After a number of months, and after I sent a number of letters to the Minister of State and the HSE, I received an updated response on 14 February this year. To say that the response was disappointing would be an understatement. It was a copy and paste of the letter from August 2022, stating once again that the assessment of need office currently had no alternative pathway and no formal allocation of resources in place to carry out a clinical reassessment for AON cases. That is the same reply I received two years prior regarding that particular family.
That is just an example of one family, but I get calls like that from so many families week in week out. They are looking for an assessment and a re-assessment of need. That child was seven in 2012. It is now 2024 and he has not had his re-assessment of need. The family is crying out for it and there are more families in the line. There does not seem to be any improvement in relation to assessment of need. When I receive a letter that states that there is no formal pathway, there is no alternative and I have to share that with a family who are in despair, it beggars belief. I hope that the Minister of State has brought some good news for the Creaney family in Athy and all the other families who have contacted me and other public representatives in the CHO 7 area.
The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, asked me to pass on her personal thanks to the Senator for his understanding of the situation this morning. She appreciates him taking the time to talk last night. Regarding the specific needs of the Creaney family in Athy, she has taken the correspondence the Senator provided her office on board. While the relevant points in the correspondence of September 2022 were entirely valid at the time, the position has developed greatly in the interim.
The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, acknowledges the challenges that are being faced by children and young people with disabilities and their families in the assessment of need process, but she remains firm in ensuring that they receive the opportunity to access health services in a timely manner. However, under the Disability Act 2005, children do not require an assessment of need to access services. Presently, there are many children in receipt of therapy services who have not gone through the AON process.
Following the High Court ruling on 11 March 2022, to the HSE was required to re-assess children to meet legal requirements. While alternative guidance was developed, the HSE reverted to the pre-2020 process and there may have been a lack of consistency across the country in the application of this interim method. It appears that the correspondence that the Senator sent to the Minister of State referred to the individual who was awaiting an AON within this timeframe.
In July 2023, the head of disability operations at the HSE approved a new and revised standard operating procedure, SOP, which included interim guidance for assessors to provide a clear and consistent approach to managing AONs and the process of referrals. In relation to CHO 7, currently a combined 5,133 AON applications between stage one and stage two are outstanding. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the HSE are entirely focused on driving down the waiting lists for AONs and this is featured strongly in the roadmap for service improvement from 2023 to 2026. Working groups implementing actions to address AON and workforce recruitment and retention the HSE and its lead agencies are continuing to explore a range of options to address AON waiting lists, including the allocation of a total of €16 million to procure private assessments for children and young people. The HSE also launched the first nationwide children's disability network team, CDNT, recruitment campaign in January 2024, which was titled “Be part of our team, be part of their lives”. So far, approximately 495 applications have been received. The HSE has also informed the Department that the interview stage of the selection process is under way and it is hoped that appointments will commence from the middle of this month onwards.
Regional assessment hubs to undertake AONs are currently in place across the country by the HSE. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will continue to engage the HSE to advance the appropriate measures to ensure that every family seeking assessment receives one in a timely manner. It is important to acknowledge the services that are currently being delivered by the HSE and its lead agencies were approximately 46,000 children with complex needs are receiving services and supports provided by CDNTs across the State.
In conclusion, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will underline that she will continue to engage directly with the Senator not just regarding the family in Athy he mentioned but other families across CHO 7 and particularly as they affect Kildare South.
I first want to thank the Minister of State for his reply and for going through it in such detail. He underlined in his reply and that they do not require an assessment of need. I have been here before with every family I deal with. The first question they are asked is to give that piece of paper with that assessment the need, so something needs to change there.
We need to tell the clinicians and everybody else that they do not require an assessment of need. This is probably the third or fourth time I have said this in the House. It needs to change urgently. That is what the family I have just referred to and the many other families I deal with have been told, namely, if they get an assessment of need, then they will get the pathways. The pathways are not opening up, and that is not just for the Creaney family in Athy but for all of the other families I deal with. There is no pathway.
This child was seven when he got his first assessment of need and he is now a 21-year-old adult. He has had no reassessment and, as I said, there has been a complete change in his personality and his needs. That is what I am fighting for today. I appreciate there has been movement in regard to setting up the assessment of need centres in the various areas but to have 5,133 in CHO 7 is simply not good enough. These are the people who are ringing me and other public representatives daily throughout CHO 7. It needs to change urgently. I hope the Minister of State can bring that message back to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.
I want to underline that the Government shares the Senator’s absolute concern. Of course, I will bring back the message that is being heard loud and clear by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the entirety of her team. The Minister of State will continue to be heavily involved in advancing the roadmap for service improvements in order to, among other things, improve the assessment of need process and the recruitment of health and social care professionals to our disability services. In this regard, there is a dedicated focus on assessment of need in working groups that had been established within the roadmap governance structures. Work will be centred on ensuring that all care sectors - primary care, disability and CAMHS - work together to address issues that exist for children with disabilities in accessing support.
The Minister of State wishes to reaffirm her commitment and that of the HSE to ensure that each family and their child who wish to receive an assessment have the opportunity to do so in a timely manner. Driving down those numbers in CHO 7 and beyond is an absolute priority.
That concludes Commencement matters. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for his attendance.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 10.12 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10.34 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 10.12 a.m. and resumed at 10.34 a.m.