Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise this issue. I want to briefly mention some of my colleagues who have been campaigning on it, including Deputies Paul Donnelly, Clarke, Cronin, O'Reilly, Daly, O'Rourke and Ó Laoghaire. A number of us put this in and we were the lucky names which came out.

We are looking for clarity on the reopening of adult day services. It is a little bit ad hocat the moment in that some services seem to have resumed but many have not. There is also the question of whether they will resume at full capacity. The Minister of State is probably aware that there will be a protest here tomorrow at 12. 30 p.m. organised by the Enough is Enough group. It is extremely passionate about this issue and it really is unfair that people with a disability are being overlooked as far as the reopening of their very valuable day services are concerned. Will additional funding be made available to reopen these services? We have just had a discussion on schools and like all workplaces there will now be a need for extra staff, extra cleaning staff and a need for very practical changes like perspex screens and other changes to facilitate social distancing. Some of the buildings in question are very old and will probably need upgrades.

Will additional funding be made available and if so can the Minister of State comment on when this will be? What is the plan for the reopening of all services? Some places are running reduced services of perhaps only a couple of hours where previously some service users would have had 30 hours a week. This is obviously a massive drop and it is going to have a knock-on effect on carers where respite is concerned. It will also affect carers who are working as well and may be juggling other responsibilities. As such I would like to know what exactly is going to happen with the reopening of day services.

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