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

Up until last year, every year that I was in this job - it was not a long time - I was told that applying a 2% cut to every agency was deeply and grossly unfair, as it did not take account of agencies that were doing things differently or progressing our aims for disability services, for example, centralised and personalised planning. We have since adopted an agency-by-agency approach. It is a mammoth task, but we are getting under the bonnet and taking a serious look at the situation.

The agencies to which the Deputy referred were told well in advance what would be the reduction in their budgets. There was, and still is, an interaction over service improvements, which is a new theme in the HSE and social care. We speak with the agencies about how we want everything to work. It is a question of operating differently. I am not saying that what was done previously was wrong - obviously, it was not. However, there are different ways of doing things. This is what we want and what we constantly hear. According to the groups representing the agencies, it was unfair to have an across-the-board cut and that we needed to cut based on what each agency could do. That is what we are doing now.

I happen to know Ability West. It does an extraordinary job in a different way. Unfortunately, there is no turning back. If, as we have done, we discover that some agencies find it difficult to continue providing the service in its totality, one must re-engage and take a serious look at how best to continue providing that service.

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