Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. That is a new figure. Certainly, I was unable to extract such a figure by way of parliamentary questions. It informs us that there is some level of co-ordination between the HSE and service providers. The Minister of State should get an answer to the question of how many are on waiting lists if he does not already have the figure. He has said there is an annual requirement for 400 places. The HSE should contact each service provider. It appears that waiting lists are administered at the level of the service provider. Therefore, the HSE should contact all service providers and pull together the data for the numbers on waiting lists. The Minister of State referred to 8,300 residential places. That is the current number of places and they are taken. The figure does not erode in any way the waiting lists. Given that the waiting list is almost 170 for one service provider alone in Cork, the figure nationally must be in the thousands.

I wish to bring it back to the example I gave. The family in question have been trying for two years. The parents are in their mid-70s and struggling. I acknowledge that they receive a respite care service when they most need it, which is appreciated. However, when it comes to a residential placement, they have been told by the service provider and the HSE that there is no hope because their daughter is not at priority level 1. Priority level 1 status is afforded to drastic cases where both parents are deceased or where a sole carer is incapacitated in some way. Essentially, they are cases where the HSE has no option but to step in and provide care.

I call on the Minister of State to do more digging on this issue. He will receive support from my party when it comes to the budget negotiations on it. I have a personal interest in it and I am keen to see more progress being made. We will support the Minister of State, but he needs to get more information from the HSE through the service providers.

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