Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister of State acknowledge that it was not possible for the report to consider any home-care services provided by the HSE and the costing of those services with the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation services because the information is simply not available? There is a lack of uniformity across the country in the services available for severely intellectually disabled children. Would the Minister of State agree that the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation catering for 1,200 families with severe intellectual disability since 1997 has done extraordinary work? Would he accept that in the context of the provision of care for such children the annual average cost to deliver acute hospital care for a severely disabled child is €147,365 compared to the average cost of €16,427 per annum for the child to have home care by the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation?

Would the Minister of State acknowledge that it is desirable that the services provided by Jack and Jill Children's Foundation be extended to children between the ages of four and six as many of the State and HSE-provided services do not kick in until a child is six? It would require an additional grant of €1,970,000 per annum to the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation to ensure that a universal service is available to all families with a severely disabled child so that the child could be provided with home care uniformly across the country. Would the Minister of State not merely encourage, but specifically ask the person in charge of these services in the HSE - it is not always clear who that is - to sit down with representatives of the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation to work out how to most efficiently and cost-effectively provide the essential services needed for all children under six with severe intellectual disability?

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