Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach as seasamh isteach dom chun deis a thabhairt dom an cheist seo a ardú. Hesed House provided a valuable counselling service in Inchicore serving more than 80 clients a week. Anybody who knows the area will know of many of the problems that have been visited on not only the Inchicore area but Dublin 8, 10 and 12 in general on top of having just come through a pandemic.

This counselling service served individuals, couples and the local schools. It provided a vital service in the area. There was a waiting list for counselling. There are two full-time therapists, two part-time therapists, a number of volunteers, an administrator and clinical director. Hesed House provided a brilliant service, but it is now in liquidation. I am not here to ask the Minister of State to go into the details of what caused that liquidation. Clearly the HSE or the charity regulator has responsibilities in respect of due diligence if there were questions relating to governance, public funding, oversight or corporate failings. I am raising the issue because there is now no service in place. Anybody who has worked with people who have been in counselling will recognise that continuity of counselling is vital, particularly given the year we have been through.

Can the Minister of State guarantee that the funding the HSE provided to this service in the past will remain for counselling in the area? Can we get some stopgap measure in the first instance to ensure that counselling continues for those who require it? We also need to build up a new counselling service on the same type of model, a free counselling service as needed by many of the families in the area.

The drugs task force in the area has assured me that its portion of the funding from the HSE will remain in the area. I am not sure about the Tusla money. Those were the three streams of funding as well as a small amount of funding the volunteers and therapists managed to raise.

There is a clear demand and the support for such a service in the area from the partnership. I am on the drugs task force. Local schools have been crying out for expansion of the services that were there. The Core Youth Service, Common Ground, St. Michael's family resource centre and many more have stated they were appalled that it was closing. We need to bear in mind that people are losing jobs, some of them after ten or 15 years in employment.

The facility closed on 4 June. Hopefully we will be able to help people to get services in other areas, but I ask for the HSE to step in. This is not additional money. This is the money that is already allocated but it now needs to be diverted to provide a counselling service that up to now was provided by a different company in Hesed House.

It is an area that like many other areas of Dublin has felt the effects of poverty, crime and many other ailments that affect our society. I hope the Minister of State will be able to give me good news today.

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