Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I am at something of a loss, since there was so much of everything else.

I know Deputy Finian McGrath has an interest in disability services and education for persons with special needs, since he was opposite me when I was Minister for Education and Science and we put the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 on the Statute Book. I acknowledge that and remind the Deputy of the Government's record on disability services over recent years. The commitment is shared by all Ministers.

Between 1997 and 2006, additional revenue and capital funding of €851 million was invested in health-funded support services for people with disabilities, of which €549 million was provided for persons with an intellectual disability and those with autism. An additional sum of €75 million for revenue purposes was provided for disability services in the 2007 budget. That sum incorporates the 2007 element of the Government's multi-annual investment programme for the national disability strategy, under which it is committed to providing some €900 million capital and revenue funding over the period 2005-09. We will honour that commitment.

With specific regard to Dublin north, as part of such funding, €9.36 million was provided for intellectual disability services, resulting in 68 new residential places, 138 new day places and 18 new respite places. Some €2.8 million went on physical disability services, resulting in 19 new residential places and almost 63,000 additional hours of home support service being provided. As part of the multi-annual investment programme, over 40 additional posts, including physiotherapists, senior occupational therapists, senior speech and language therapists, senior psychologists, senior social workers and early intervention team managers, were approved for disability services in the Dublin north area in 2006 and 2007. That will continue over the Government's lifetime.

Outside the multi-annual investment package funding, the HSE provides ongoing funding for disability services in the Dublin north area as follows: €163 million in 2006 to 43 agencies providing services and support to persons with disabilities; and €4.35 million in 2006 for home care supports to allow persons with disabilities to remain in the community. Some €5.66 million was provided in 2006 to fund the residential care of persons with physical or sensory disabilities who could no longer be cared for in the community, and a specific amount of €459,150 is provided annually to provide aids and appliances to persons with physical and sensory disabilities.

The Deputy should also note that building work has just begun on the development of a 60-bed bungalow complex at St. Joseph's Disability Services, Portrane. The estimated cost of that project is €17 million.

The Deputy will be aware that people with physical and sensory disabilities also avail themselves of general primary care services such as general practitioner, dental, ophthalmic, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, public health nursing, area medical officers, financial allowances and so on. Expenditure on those services is included in the general community services provision.

The Deputy also raised concerns regarding HSE plans for older persons' services in the north Dublin area. Services will continue to be rolled out, particularly the delivery of home care packages that allow older people to remain at home for a longer period, as well as to facilitate earlier discharges from an acute hospital setting. The intent over the coming years is to continue to increase the number of packages in the area, which rose from 563 in December 2005 to 1,480 in May 2007.

Funding has also been provided for additional places and extended opening at day-care facilities, additional respite care beds, and for organisations providing meals on wheels.

See this speech in context