Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

4 o’clock

I wish to congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, on his appointment. He has been a powerful advocate for people with disabilities during his time in public life. I know that will continue and I look forward to working closely with him.

The Minister has said a lot about plans, budgets and reviews, but with respect, the people who need these hours need them now. We need funding to be put in place now. It is quite disturbing that no extra funding has been put into personal assistant services since 2009. Currently there are people here who require but who have no personal assistant hours and also people who require extra hours. I would like the Minister of State to commit to working to ensure a significant increase in personal assistant hours is provided for in the next budget and HSE service plan and to setting a target for that.

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