Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to speak on this amendment and I thank Deputy Michael McGrath for putting it forward.

There are many such situations in County Tipperary but I have one organisation in particular in mind that is in the process of buying a new bus, namely, the Tipperary day care centre. It is a wonderful facility with a voluntary board scrapping and scrounging to try to pay the excellent manager and staff using community employment schemes. Across the border, in County Limerick, the HSE is funding the staff but it is not doing so in this case. The centre has received a generous contribution from one J.P. McManus but now it is caught in this trap. Its dealer told the centre to get rid of its old bus, which is not actually old as it dates from 2010, but which has given endless trouble and has cost it a fortune. Consequently, it must upgrade the bus.

I am sure all Deputies visit day care centres and know of the work they do and how the elderly, who are so isolated now in towns and rural areas, as well as in the cities, need these services. There may be a couple who have the primary medical certificate but there is a need for change in this regard. A change was made because as I stated, the centre bought the bus in 2010 and at that time, it was allowed to get the rebate. Subsequently, a statutory instrument or something was signed or a ruling made by the HSE that the centre cannot get it. It is the cruelest of blows because the people who go to that centre love it. They look forward to being picked up at their homes once or twice a week. As I said, this change is necessary. Deputy Michael McGrath stated the Minister is looking at changing it. It has to be changed as it was a hammer blow to these people.

We also heard mention of VAT in the budget and a start was made to give VAT back to voluntary groups. I refer to organisations such as Knocklofty RehabCare centre and RehabCare Clonmel, as well as special needs people throughout the county who need this.

One will never have a situation where all the people qualify. They might be hugely restricted in their development but may not be missing a leg or a limb. I am sorry to use such crude language but that is what qualification entails. One can be profoundly disabled and be able to move around or profoundly ill in other ways. These are the people who we are trying to keep out of the nursing homes and hospitals. This is a support for half a day or three quarters of a day, where they are picked up in the morning, brought in for their tea and a scone and where they avail of a chiropodist, hairdressers and so on. They have their meal and have a little entertainment and games and then are brought back home again. It is a lifeline, keeping such people alive, out of hospital and out of nursing homes. It is mainly organised by a board of directors who are volunteers and we cannot ever forget that.

I do not know whether the Department of Finance or the HSE changed the rule but it was a mean, lean decision. It flies in the face of all we are trying to do for social inclusion.

We talk about equality but where is the equality in that? Do we want them all to be without a limb? Is that what we are down to? Goodness, this is hapless. They need supports in many other ways. This is stimulation and it reinvigorates them, and while they may be lost then from the Thursday or Friday until the following Monday or Tuesday, at least they can look forward to this. We will all be visiting these places at Christmas, we hope, for the different celebrations.

This has to be changed. I hope that common sense will prevail. There is no-one trying to cod the system here. It is not like the Ponzi schemes we were talking about in the context of other amendments, where billions have been written off by big businesses and companies. This is about ordinary people, the enablers in Ireland who are providing these day care centres. They are fundraising in the main, with some support from the HSE. In terms of upkeep, damage from storms, no matter what it is, they have to fundraise. This is a shock, though, because they could buy a bus in 2010 and get a certain amount of the funding back under the grant scheme. Now they find that when they are forced to buy a bus in 2017 they cannot avail of the grant scheme because not all of the users are on crutches or in wheelchairs. There are some who are in wheelchairs, certainly but many are able bodied and can walk.

I hope that the Minister and his officials will look at this again because it is a wrong move and it is detrimental to the well-being of the elderly, the not-so-elderly and the vulnerable, as well as to the volunteers who try to run these places outside of their normal jobs. They have already paid their taxes.

See this speech in context