Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We met representatives of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, ABI Ireland, last week when they gave a presentation to Oireachtas Members and staff. The excellent presentation outlined the scale of what we are dealing with in Ireland and what is needed to provide a proper response. ABI Ireland estimates that 19,000 people acquire a brain injury each year. These injuries can be caused by strokes, accidents, tumours, assaults and illnesses. Approximately 100,000 people have brain injuries. I understand ABI Ireland is a section 39 organisation providing vital services to those living with a brain injury, a type of injury that has a major impact on people's lives and can leave some people completely disabled.

The National Rehabilitation Hospital, NRH, in Dún Laoghaire is doing excellent work. Many people who have gone through the unit have made excellent progress. We all know such people in our communities. Some of them have made almost a full recovery and returned to normal life. More capacity is needed in the system, however. ABI Ireland provides neuro-rehabilitation community services that complement and sometimes replace full-time residential care and rehabilitation. It ensures that people can make a seamless move home from a hospital or permanent setting, such as the NRH. This avoids lengthy stays in hospital and, importantly, maximises the chances of a good recovery.

ABI Ireland needs funding. Its current model is not secure or sufficient to meet the scale of its operations. It has to seek funding from the HSE every month to keep going. The organisation is pleading for money to stay afloat. That is not good enough. ABI Ireland requires further core funding of €1.5 million per annum to maintain its services and meet growing demand. The population is expanding, which places increased demand on ABI Ireland because the number of strokes and accidents is also increasing.

There are no specialist beds for acquired brain injuries outside Dublin and rehabilitation services in general are under-resourced. ABI Ireland wants to establish a regional neurological rehabilitation centre to provide inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. This could be based in the midlands, for example, where it would be within easy reach of all parts of the country. ABI Ireland plans to build a 25-bed unit for which once-off development funding of €5 million would be needed to kick-start the project. People could then avail of this regional service instead of being moved from hospitals to nursing homes. ABI Ireland faces two key funding pressures. One is core funding to keep going and the other is securing the €5 million in seed capital it needs to kick-start the development of a regional centre providing important inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services.

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