Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome back the Leader and my colleagues. I look forward to an effective and productive session in the Seanad.

The recess has not done the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, any good. What I was most disgusted about during the recess was the fact that the Government used it to make savage cuts to intellectual and disability services. For example, St. Michael's House serves more than 1,600 young men and women and children in the north east. In August, the Minister announced a cut of €1 million to its services, backdated to 1 July. Respite care has been cut, which means that no staff overtime is available and there will be no new day services. People will need to be returned from respite care to their families. They are the people most in need of services.

This is ironic, given that I listened to the Minister's comments on the health budget yesterday when he stated that he was not too concerned about being a couple of euro over it. He has proven not to be efficient with his personal finances, but he has also proven year on year that he is not able to manage the health budget. One day before the Christmas recess last year, he ran into the House late in the evening and sought an additional €300 million for the health service. At the time and again this year, we stated that his budget did not stack up and was a fantasy. This year, there will be a further major job overrun. To what does the Minister assign blame and what is the reason for it?

He says there are serious demographic issues and old people get sick. So is it their fault that the health budget is over-running? Is it their fault that young people in St. Michael's House will not now receive the services they deserve? Is it the fault of the elderly that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and the Government have cut the respite care grant by 30%?

We now have a whole new narrative whereby the Minister, Deputy Reilly, like the hurler on the ditch, is blaming the service users for the fact that he cannot manage his budget.