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

As the Minister well knows, it is almost impossible to over state how crucial personal assistance is in the lives of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, many of those who receive a service only get four hours per week. This is not good enough as they must squeeze an awful lot into those four hours. I urge the Minister of State to consider a further allocation for the people who receive only four hours assistance.

Clearly, this service needs to be expanded and I believe the Minister of State will look into that. It is deeply disappointing that there will be no additional services provided for in 2016. Also, relative to the outturn in 2015, there are serious concerns that the service may even be reduced this year. A €10 million increase in 2017 could deliver 400,000 plus hours. I call on the Minister of State to make this his priority.

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