Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is the same reply that I received earlier from the Department. I acknowledge the intent of what the Minister has said but I reject its content. I do not find that acceptable and I want to stress that these are children with exceptional needs, as I know the Minister acknowledges. There is no way the family in question can pay the bill and recoup the funding. I absolutely acknowledge that the scheme is there but this family cannot get €1,500 to pay for it. Home provision is not suitable to this family unit and there are reasons for that. This child will be left in a difficult and unacceptable situation.

I know the community welfare office service is available but one does not want to reduce people to going to a community welfare officer and putting out their hands to beg for something to which they are entitled. I ask the Minister to look at this matter again.

I do not know how many similar applications the Department has received or how many people are affected.

I have three constituents who attend schools in Louth who are affected by this. I ask the Minister to look again at it and see if there is some way of looking after them. It is unacceptable to them and to me that the Department cannot find a way in these exceptional circumstances where there is no public bus. They have no way of getting there without the taxi and they cannot pay for it.

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