Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. A few moments ago I was in a Zoom meeting with representatives of MS Ireland. They are watching this meeting. The representatives in question are Susan Coote, who is a physiotherapist from Killaloe in County Clare, and Alison Cotter. They have a business case before the Department. I understand the numbers are probably being crunched. Essentially, they are looking for a senior physiotherapist in each CHO to deliver Sláintecare and, in particular, the integration fund project.

The Minister is probably aware of the active neuro project that is fully up and running in CHO 3 in the mid-west. There is a pilot scheme operational in the Galway region but it does not exist anywhere else in the country. The argument that MS Ireland is putting forward is that when we have specialised physiotherapy care we avoid a lot of falls among people with MS and we avoid them having to present in an acute hospital setting. At present there is a €19 million cost to the Department per annum in terms of progressing disabilities associated with MS. Ms Coote and Ms Cotter see the hiring being done by means of a service level agreement with MS Ireland. This is already in place with Enable Ireland. There are models where there are special MS-trained physiotherapists who can deliver this and, hopefully, intercept the pathway that inevitably leads to somebody to an acute setting. Has the Minister seen the business case? Is it being considered? What light at the end of the tunnel can the Minister give to people following the meeting today?