Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a sad indictment of the HSE locally that I had to raise it here to find out that respite services have supposedly recommended from 29 May.

As for the posts being filled, obviously, if this is correct, one can see there will not be full-time restoration of respite care. How can we have any faith in the HSE providing a truthful answer as to what is happening here?

I do not know how retirements can cause problems within the HSE. The HSE knows the ages of its staff. It knows the retiring age of its staff. It knows they are going to retire. Indeed, I am aware that the care assistant who recently retired actually wanted to stay on for another year or more, and the HSE refused the request and closed down this service. This is the type of treatment that families with loved ones with disabilities who are in need of respite are getting from the HSE in Donegal. It is totally unacceptable.

This service must return to its previous 24-7 basis for families. These families are saving the State a fortune by keeping their loved ones at home and doing their best to look after them but they are getting very little support or response. That is the critical issue here and that is what the HSE has lost sight of because it does not have a person-centred approach. It is not actually thinking about the families in this case.

I hope the facts just relayed are correct. When I get back to Donegal, I will check that the services have been reinstated and I hope I will not be back in here again in a few months raising this issue because that would be completely unacceptable. I also ask the Minister of State to ask the HSE why it does not respond to basic queries.

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