Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In CHO 5, which includes my constituency of Wexford, there are 1,300 service users whose core funding or capitation is between €2,000 and €6,000 per annum. The equivalent 2,391 service users who are school leavers, and who are entering the same facilities and doing the same things for the same length of time, are getting €18,000 per capita. There is a deficit there of somewhere between €12,000 to €14,000 per capita. I am told that over the next five years, the requirement will be to bring the first group up to €18,000 in order for section 39 organisations to remain available. That works out at just over €9 million. Mr. Mulvany can see where the frustration arises with the loss of €30 million. The entirety of CHO 5 needs €9 million. The €30 million we have been discussing today would cover that three times.

There are 4,000 people involved who are in dire need of these day services. I am aware of two section 39 organisations that have had to halt their respite service. They have no staff. There is a list of things I will discuss with Mr. Mulvany if he sets up a meeting on this matter. The reality is that there is no plan. This is a shit show. There is no other way to describe it. It is not getting better; it is getting worse. I attended a meeting on Monday night at which there were 60 people, all over the age of 60, who are caring for very intellectually disabled adults who not only do not have respite, but are heading for residential care. We got six beds in total in the month of May in CHO 5, which are all now occupied, at a cost of €37,000 per person per month. The 4,000 service users I referred to may well end up in residential care at some point. I want to see a plan for their care. I am pointing to the problem of €30 million going astray when €10 million would make a difference. That is what I do as a public representative. It is about getting value for money and ensuring services are fully staffed in order to provide a service to the most vulnerable in our society.