Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. Unfortunately, however, every other group approaching us feels that it should be top of the priority list. That is the balancing act that one is constantly trying to achieve in order to ensure a degree of fairness. That is the difficulty. St. Michael's House has done all the things we would expect other service providers to do and, in fairness, a lot of them have done so. Last year, there was speculation - and the Deputy was one of those speculating in public - that we were going to have cuts of between 5% and 7% in disability services, yet we managed to bring it in at 3.7%. I will fight my corner and have always done so. I am charged with looking after people with disabilities. That is my specific responsibility and I will do my very best on their behalf.

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