Mr. Joe Meany:

Transport has been an issue for years, not only in Delta Centre but across the country. I started with the HSE in 2001 and within six months I was on a south-east committee for transport. We all thought we were going to resolve the issue back then. It was not resolved and it is still an issue. I am aware that it was discussed again, in March of this year, at this committee and one solution that was being put forward by the HSE was Local Link transport. It may be a possible solution in some cases. All agencies, including Delta Centre and Ability West, are always looking for local solutions if we can find them. We would have found existing transports for people in the past year using public transport when we can avail of it but, by itself, it is not enough. We were travelling up here today and we saw a gentleman with a disability getting a bus in Dublin. He had access to public transport. I am sure he has a free bus pass and he was able to get off the bus and go to his home and it was perfect. Down where we live, we cannot do that. Many of the people who attend Delta Centre are in a rural setting and there is no transport.

In fairness, the HSE does not have the resources to resolve this issue. Nationally, we have to agree that a Department or Departments are responsible for transporting people to access day services. A nationally funded transport model needs to be agreed so that everybody has equal access to transport. There is existing infrastructure that may be possible as well. We have our own buses but when we looked at it closely, as somebody mentioned in their opening statement, we found that the HSE buys buses but it does not fund the ongoing costs. The ongoing costs are eating away at services because they are diluting other services whereas we are having to target money towards transport that we are not being funded for. However, there is an existing infrastructure there. If the Government can agree what Departments will fund transport and then deliver a sustainable model that ensures everybody can avail of transport, I am sure service providers would be open to delivering transport if it is funded appropriately.

With regard to the comment on the respite, we have 62 people on the list. We are in the middle of a submission at the moment that we will submit to the HSE for a second respite house because we absolutely see the need for that.

With regard to the assessment of need, I am probably repeating what I said earlier but there definitely needs to be a national resource allocation model and assessing people when they can come into day services so that, whether you are a school leaver or not, you are able to be assessed and then resources can be allocated to you so that you can get a rights-based service.