Forum
DÁIL ÉIREANN

Sitting Time - 15:30
Sitting Date - 13/12/2011

^ Leaders' Questions ^

Deputy Finian McGrath: A number of cuts in disability and mental health services were outlined during the speeches in the Dáil on last week's budget.  There was a lot of talk about protecting the vulnerable.  A figure of 2% was mentioned on page 13 of the address that was made by the Minister, Deputy Howlin.  I was aware that the service providers were in the middle of talks at the time.  They said they were prepared to meet the Government half way by accepting a cut of 1.8% and making a small reduction in their services.  The Taoiseach can imagine my shock and horror yesterday when I was told the Government and the HSE are demanding cuts of between 5.5% and 7% in disability services.  Is the Taoiseach aware of this information?  Is it correct?  Can he use his authority to bring this to an end?  Is the Government demanding cuts of up to 7% in day care, respite and residential services?  Does it not know that disability services are already in crisis?  They are suffering enough without sticking the knife in further and cutting more.  Did the Taoiseach not learn from last week's row about the disability allowance that it is wrong to cut and damage our disability services?  Of course he will mention the economic crisis, but I remind him that a 1% wealth tax would raise more than €800 million.  I ask the Taoiseach to end the cuts to disability services.  How does he justify taking 250 teachers from the most disadvantaged communities in the State and increasing class ratios from 15:1 to 22:1?  I ask the Taoiseach not to wreck our disability services, which are already in crisis and in need our support.

The Taoiseach: The Deputy has covered a range of subjects.  Money has been ring-fenced for the provision of mental health services.  The Government made it perfectly clear that rather than mental health services being sidelined as they were for years, they are being brought to the centre of the delivery of normal health services.  That is the way it should be and that is the way it will be.  The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is dealing with that area competently.  The disability allowance issue, which was dealt with last week, is under review by the chairperson of the advisory group on the integration of taxation and social welfare.  She will report to the Minister for Social Protection in due course.  The Deputy also asked about teachers in disadvantaged schools.  The DEIS schools have been protected.

Deputy Mattie McGrath: No, they have not.

Deputy Micheál Martin: The DEIS schools have not been protected.

The Taoiseach: There is a legacy in respect of schools that might be termed as semi-DEIS schools.

Deputy Micheál Martin: Has the Taoiseach any idea of what is going on?  The DEIS schools have been savaged.

The Taoiseach: I remind Deputy Martin that legacy issues have been there for quite a long time.

Deputy Dara Calleary: The Taoiseach should speak to Deputy Ó Ríordáin.

Deputy Simon Coveney: Existing DEIS schools are protected.

Deputy Micheál Martin: Nine teachers are gone from three DEIS schools in Deputy Coveney's constituency on the south side of Cork.

An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy should not be so rowdy.

Deputy Micheál Martin: The Government does not even know what it has done.

The Taoiseach: The situation is that changes in numbers will have a certain impact on teachers in some schools with legacy DEIS issues.

Deputy Micheál Martin: If something has the word "disadvantage", the Government goes for it.

The Taoiseach: It will not happen to the extent that has been suggested.

Deputy Micheál Martin: It will happen to a savage extent.  I have mentioned the loss of nine teachers.

The Taoiseach: Deputy Finian McGrath will be quite aware of the significance of the protection of the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools.  If that had been altered, obviously it would have given rise to a very different kind of argument.

Deputy Dara Calleary: What about one-teacher, two-teacher, three-teacher and four-teacher schools?

An Ceann Comhairle: I remind Deputy Finian McGrath that the relevant Standing Order allows for a brief question on one topic.  I ask him to confine his supplementary questions to a single topic.

Deputy Finian McGrath: I would like to give the Taoiseach some facts on the disability issue.  Is he aware that St. Michael's House disability services have been told to accept a cut of 5.5%, increasing to 7%?  Services for the blind have been told to take a cut of 5.5%.  As a result, St. Joseph's Centre for the Visually Impaired on Grace Park Road on the north side of Dublin will lose €350,000.  Jobs will be lost even though the staff of the centre took a voluntary 10% pay cut last year.  The Disability Federation of Ireland has been contacted by its members who have been told to take a cut of 4.7%.  This is the real frontline world for the families of children and adults with disabilities. I was told by people from one of the services yesterday that they had not seen the like of such cuts for more than 30 years.  They want to know what the hell is going on here.

Does the Taoiseach realise that if residential places and services for adults with intellectual disabilities are closed down, in cases where parents die or there is a family crisis, in addition to the consequent humiliation, sadness, grief and trauma involved, the service provider will be forced to outsource to a private service which will cost taxpayers more money?  From a humane perspective this is madness but even the economics are crazy.

In regard to mental health, does the Taoiseach find it acceptable in this day and age that five mentally ill women should be locked up over Christmas in St. Brendan's centre in Grangegorman because of lack of funding?  I ask the Taoiseach to use the so-called €35 million promised in the budget so that these women can be respected and there be a compatible solution.

An Ceann Comhairle: That is a subject matter for a Topical Issue debate, to be discussed later.

The Taoiseach: I do not have the information Deputy McGrath has in regard to the person who spoke to him about a situation applying at Christmas.  That time has not yet arrived but if the Deputy wishes to supply details to the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, I am sure she will be prepared to look at the situation.

I take the Deputy's point about having to revert to private services.  One of the great problems experienced by many families in both urban and rural Ireland is getting people to call to houses or to stay overnight to provide assistance and support where necessary.  As Deputy McGrath is aware, there is a whole range of such cases.  Yesterday I met a group from Roscommon who provide a not-for-profit service which costs approximately €15 per hour.  This complements the HSE home help service although most private agencies charge a minimum of €20 per hour for similar services.  The group already has some 200 people involved who, in many cases, will stay overnight in a household where that is necessary and appropriate.  They are all vetted and their PRSI is paid.  The savings to the Department of Health would be considerable if that model were to be adopted on a much broader scale.

Deputy Timmy Dooley: They do not have an accident and emergency department.

The Taoiseach: Regarding the dearer private services which the Deputy mentioned, I have only just been made aware of the capacity of this model to provide a first-class, additional or complementary service on a non-profit basis, at a big saving to the taxpayer.  I will bring this to the attention of the Minister of Health for his consideration.  If the model were to be applied and if it worked credibly and effectively in people's interest, it would be preferable to paying huge moneys to other organisation which charge far more.

Deputy Finian McGrath: There will be a considerable crisis over the Christmas period.