Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I know what the Deputy is saying about communication. We have a budget, which was announced. We also have the €100 million in energy funding that the Deputy mentioned and that service providers are waiting to get their hands on. It is their only mechanism. With the support of the Minister, the team with us and the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, I was fortunate to get the lion's share of that €100 million - we got €67 million. The Deputy is right and I understand the providers' frustration. The funding was agreed in September, but it was only released five weeks ago and has still not reached some of them. That is not my fault or that of the Minister. We are pushing it as hard as we can, but the money has not dropped. With the Department, we are working within constraints to get the money out. The money has got out, but if it is not dropping, that is a HSE operational matter and I would call on the HSE to ensure that all providers get funding. We have secured 3.5% of an uplift for all to meet their needs, so it is unfortunate that it has not reached some of the providers. Some of them are at the pin of their collar just to keep their doors open and are waiting on that money.