Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Good afternoon. I welcome the Minister, the Minister of State and their officials. My questions are generally disability related. The Minister said in his statement that the service delivery requirement of €98 million incorporates the transfer of funds from the Department of Health of €27 million. Why is this so low? I thought that when disability was transferring from the Department of Health there was an assurance that the money that was allocated to the disability area within that Department would transfer to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Has that happened? Will the Minister of State please clarify that for me?

On the supplementary requirement of €112.5 million, is it €66 million for a specialist community-based disability services residential placement? What level of planning goes into finding residential placements? Is there sufficient data? We hear it all the time, as does the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the number of adults who live with elderly parents. All those parents want to see is a residential placement for their son or daughter before they die but often times the placement is not provided until they do die, and it is then an emergency but nobody's wishes are taken into account.

We still have a lot of people in congregated settings and people under 65 in nursing homes when it is not their choice to be there, plus it is not the best place for most of them. We have heard recently from the Ombudsman for Children about parents leaving children in respite services or hospitals because they cannot cope any more. That is due to the lack of community-based services for those children so their parents can take care of them. The last thing parents want to do is leave their children in those sort of settings.

Our CDNTs are still under staffed. The pay agreement for section 39s has been agreed by the members and their unions but there is still a pay differential. How confident is the Minister of State that recruitment to section 39 organisations will not be affected by the pay differential that still exists? Can more measures be taken to address the matter?

On section 38 organisations or HSE services, I thought all staff were not subject to the recruitment pause but the Minister of State has just said that administrative staff are subject to that. Administrative staff are vital to these services and many services cannot cope without these staff. The provision of other staff is welcome and essential. Section 38 workers are extremely worried, having heard that administrative staff are subject to the recruitment pause. They want the matter clarified and, if it is so, to reconsider and reverse the decision.

An additional €10 million is required for disabilities under other home supports, inflation, etc. I ask the Minister to explain what is covered by the funding.