Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to outline the Government's position on the situation at St. Michael's House disability services. I begin by recognising the valuable contribution St. Michael's House makes to the provision of services to people with intellectual disabilities. In 2012, St. Michael's House received more than €70 million in funding from the HSE to provide a range of services to approximately 1,660 children and adults with an intellectual disability in more than 170 centres in the greater Dublin area and Navan, County Meath.

The range of services provided by St. Michael's House include individualised services, clinical therapies, early services, special national schools, inclusive education, vocational training, adult day services, employment support, residential independent living, and respite, social, recreational and specialised Alzheimer services.

The HSE and St. Michael's House always work in close collaboration with regard to the funding and delivery of services to people with an intellectual disability. As a voluntary agency, St Michael's House is obliged to work within the resources available to it and in that regard it has introduced significant efficiencies in recent years to remain within budget. The HSE has advised that these changes to date have not resulted in service contraction.

The Haddington Road agreement sets out measures relating to productivity, cost extraction and reform. Altogether these measures intend to achieve a required pay bill reduction of €150 million identified in the HSE service plan 2013. The agreement came into effect on 1 July this year and provides a framework and opportunities for managers within the health services, including agencies such as St. Michael's House, to reduce costs associated with agency and overtime and a wide range of other pay costs, especially through measures such as additional working hours and revised rates in respect of overtime.

The Department of Health understands that agencies such as St. Michael's House were requested to submit plans to the HSE outlining how it intended to achieve the necessary cost reductions in terms of the new consolidated pay scales and the additional hours available under the Haddington Road agreement without altering the level of front-line services to be delivered as agreed in the service arrangements.

The HSE has advised the Department of Health that the recent application of additional budget cuts under the Haddington Road agreement has presented a significant challenge to St. Michael's House. A process is now under way between the HSE and St. Michael's House to identify the impact of these budget reductions on services. The HSE and St. Michael's House have met several times and the Department of Health has received assurances from the HSE that both organisations are committed to working within the terms of the Haddington Road agreement to ensure services are impacted upon only as a measure of last resort. In this context, it is vital that all providers of disability services work creatively and co-operatively to ensure that the maximum level of services are maintained for service users within the funding resources available.

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