Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's last paragraph is something that parents and families of the service users of St. Michael's House will be very concerned about. The Minister of State said that cuts to front-line services will only be a measure of last resort. However, everyone knows that many of the services provided by the organisation have been under huge pressure since the budget of 2009 and that there is no more to give, no more than in any other part of the health system. The services have been cut to the bone and the Government is taking away services from people who need them. It is a horrendous situation that must be reversed.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, advised me in a letter that the HSE north-east division and St. Michael's House were working together to ensure services are not impacted upon. However, he gave no guarantee that there would be no further attacks on front-line services. Given the fact that almost 20% of citizens in the country with an intellectual disability are waiting for services from St. Michael's House, surely the Minister of State should give a commitment in the House today.

The recent cut of €1 million resulting from the Haddington Road agreement came in addition to the €12 million in cuts in previous budgets. Even with this, St. Michael's House has fully complied with attempting to meet the requirements of the HSE. The message I want the Minister of State to get on behalf of the service users is that the cuts are posing real challenges to the services that the organisation seeks to provide. It would be disastrous if, when Government Deputies will, perhaps, be cheering for one or two good things in the budget in a couple of weeks' time, we then see in the detail that further cutbacks are coming. What plans or proposals do the Minister, Deputy Reilly, the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch and the rest of the Department have to address the growing waiting lists for children and young adults who need the services of St. Michael's House?

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