Mr. Padraig Mallon:

You are talking about hundreds of families. As we said in our opening statement, we have presented a business case to the HSE locally for this. It is very supportive but it is a matter of funding. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has been very supportive but we need to move it along because, as we said in our opening statement, this year the service is going to serve 260 families. We are without funding for this service. We are highly concerned that we will be able to continue. Ms Cahill has demonstrated the value and innovation of it and how we are working with SNAs. The multiplier of working with an SNA in a school, where several children have a disability, means the reach of that back into the family home is really significant.

Yes, it is a significant issue that it is not being offered elsewhere but Crann is set up to offer it. We do not currently receive any annual statutory funding for any of our services. That is a situation which we are really keen to change. Being here today affords a real opportunity to raise these issues but one can also see how practical it is. For less than €200,000, 260 families get really intensive, practical support which enables them to enjoy better health and wellbeing, opportunities to participate in society and a huge increase in quality of life. This applies not just to the person with the disability but also to their family. As Ms Jarvey mentioned earlier, self-management really is a human rights issue. The capacity to be able to manage one's own continence goes to the core of a person's being. It really governs a person's opportunities for equitable participation in society. In terms of money well-spent, this would be really significant to us and would deliver huge value for money.

To come back to the transitions, this year we were delighted to receive funding through SOLAS and the mitigating against educational disadvantage fund, which is a really important one. We have submitted an application to work with the Cork Education and Training Board on an initiative which, thankfully, it saw the value of. It focuses on mentoring and supports parents and students to give them the right support at key points of transition. Most importantly, that mentoring helps the parents and students to make the best and the right choices for themselves. It also enables them to understand that their disability does not necessarily need to limit them in education. We have been able to deliver supports for 15 learners and their families and we will have the data that will evidence the effectiveness of that coming through over the next couple of months.