Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept the points raised by Deputies Breathnach and O'Dowd about needing action and deeds. Even in the last couple of days, I have written to the CEO of and people directly involved in St. John of God's about the management of money. That is a separate debate but, at the same time, I am not happy with the way some of the money is being spent on services. It is unacceptable to hear that a family has told Deputy O'Dowd that they have received no respite.

The management of money in services is very important. I take Deputy Breathnach's point about the retired nurses. That is a good idea. There are 101,000 families claiming the carer's grant, which is worth €1,700 and was restored recently to those families. They could use some of that money to pay for respite while we get the long-term issue resolved. However, I accept the point that we need action on respite services. We need good management of the resources. We do not need all the money going to senior managers in St. John of God's services, because the people on the front line deserve the respite services. That is the direction I want to go in.

I also appreciate sensible ideas. We could use some of the nursing support hours. In this year's budget, I got an extra €16.2 million to support 395 people through funding for the new home support, which is in-home respite for emergency cases. Perhaps some of that money could be used for those ideas. I saw a group of nurses in north Dublin recently who have retired from St. Joseph's intellectual disability service in Portrane and are doing an excellent job of helping out the services that are in crisis.

I will talk to Deputies O'Dowd and Breathnach about meeting those directly involved, in particular parents who have not received the services. I would like to hear from them first hand.

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