Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are a little stuck for time. We hope to finish by 11.30 a.m.

I will bring Senator Burke's question in. There are a number of concerns among the families of people who are in congregated settings. They wonder how those people are going to manage in their communities if they are decongregated and if proper supports are not put in. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, said that 500 people moved out of congregated settings last year. There will be approximately 180 this year because funding is limited. There are concerns about decongegration. While it is the policy of the Government to decongregate, there are concerns about how people will cope, particularly those who have been in congregated settings for a long time. The other question is on respite services and people moving from adolescence into adulthood.

They may have had access to respite services as adolescents but when they move into adulthood they have great difficulty accessing respite care.

On the PA hours issue, the Minister was here a couple of weeks ago and there was a dispute between Senator Dolan and the Minister on a mathematical calculation of the number of PA hours. The number of PA hours allocated this year is 1.4 million. It seemed the number allocated last year was 1.3 million but it was actually 1.5 million and it was now dropping back to 1.4 million. Perhaps the witness has some comments on that.

On the point raised by Mr. Michael McCabe, how close are we to moving to personalised budgets and will they be cost effective? They give autonomy to the person but can people actually access services themselves with personalised budgets? I interrupted Senator Burke's question.