John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I recognise other Deputies had an interest in it also. I am not in the business of pulling the wool over anybody's eyes; that goes without saying. I will refer to the meeting today. It is a pity Deputy Jan O'Sullivan made the point this is a matter of having meeting after meeting but it must be a matter of meetings. That is why the meeting was today. Tomorrow evening's meeting will be with the umbrella group, the national voluntary organisation. Let us try to deal with the issues that arise.

Deputy McCormack was concerned about today's meeting and wondered what the outcome was. He has a Galway perspective. The Brothers of Charity confirmed that they can maintain the respite service in the current year from within currently available resources. It is not for me to say that. The Brothers of Charity has issued a statement this evening to this effect. I did not read it but heard it referred to on the news.

The statement that only 131 people are affected was made by way of saying 5,000 people are in receipt of respite care. The reference to 131 was in the context of the fact that 42 providers are providing respite care. It occurred to me that, of the 42, 40 were in a position to continue providing care. Two had a difficulty.

I want to be as specific as I can about the meetings. Some weeks ago, when the possibility of Bawnmore was flagged to us, I suggested to the HSE publicly on radio that the local health managers should sit down with the services providers to determine where their difficulty lay, bearing in mind the allocation of €1.6 billion for disability services. I pointed out at all times that it would not be necessary to cut the respite care budget.

Whether it is unthinkable or otherwise, it must be said that there was a €30 million budget for Bawnmore. The shortfall was €145,000. I mentioned the outcome of today's meeting in respect of Galway. The Brothers of Charity left the meeting today to consider the issue of Bawnmore.

I must give a commitment before we rise tomorrow evening. My commitment has been to retain respite services this year. I want to be very specific with Deputy McCormack because he raised concerns about this matter on a few occasions. The issue of demanding a further cut of €2 million is not on the table. Last week's suggestion of seeking a further €2 million will not be acted upon in the context of this year's service. This will be reaffirmed in the statement we will issue tomorrow evening.

Let me refer to the lead-up-----

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