Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I am grateful for an opportunity to raise the plight of Kevin McCabe of Wicklow and Joseph Hogan of Dublin, both of whom are inpatients at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire. It has been suggested that Kevin and Joseph will be discharged to the Mater Hospital from where they came, as they are included on the delayed discharge list. Both young men have nowhere else to go because the funds to provide personal assistants and carers have not been made available by the Health Service Executive.

The Mater Hospital is under pressure to transfer patients from its spinal injury unit to the National Rehabilitation Hospital's spinal programme and there is now pressure to move on Kevin and Joseph. Both men say they know of others who were discharged back to the Mater Hospital and remain there two years later. They are fearful that this will also be their fate and, as the years go by, they will become less visible to those who have a responsibility for funding.

In early 2007, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, visited the National Rehabilitation Hospital. During her visit she showed a special interest in the cases of Kevin and Joseph and requested that more information about them should be forwarded to Mr. Tom Kelly, her assistant at the time. However, despite her assurances on the day, Kevin and Joseph remain in hospital with little hope for discharge other than to the Mater Hospital.

Kevin has been in the National Rehabilitation Hospital since November 2006 and was due for discharge in 2007. Joseph, who became an inpatient in July 2006, was due for discharge in December 2006. Both men have been allocated a specially built house in St. Brigid's Park, Greystones, County Wicklow, owned and managed by Cheshire Ireland. Despite protracted lobbying and negotiations involving many sources, including Cheshire Ireland and the National Rehabilitation Hospital, funding for their care is not forthcoming from the HSE and a timescale has not been set for making such funding available. This is the second delay and a major disappointment for Kevin and Joseph.

The Cheshire Ireland housing initiative at St. Brigid's Park is funded through capital assistance grants provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Owing to delays in the Department's approval process, Cheshire Ireland was unable to provide the support housing within the timeframe expected, which resulted in a delay of up to one year until February 2008. The lack of HSE funding has affected a further four individuals with physical disabiities who have been allocated houses in St. Brigid's Park. Two of the individuals in question live in Cheshire Ireland homes, while a third is being cared for in a family home by her brother who is finding it increasingly difficult to cope financially.

Since the beginning of 2007, Cheshire Ireland has been having ongoing discussions on securing the new core revenue funding needed to provide the required services in St. Brigid's Park. The HSE has made clear to Cheshire Ireland that the required funding will be provided once the people move to their new services. However, the position is that two young men cannot go to their new home. I urge the Minister to resolve this terrible situation.

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