Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Last Thursday, I was contacted by constituents, parents and service users about St. Michael's House, 18 Cromwellsfort Road, Dublin 12. A man who has Apert syndrome and has relied on the service for approximately 20 years was advised on Wednesday that he would have to arrange his own transport to get to the service. Heretofore, buses used to transport service users from 8 a.m. to 10 a. m. and 2.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Staff at St. Michael's House, which is a section 38 facility funded by the HSE, are also distraught by this situation.

I contacted St. Michael's House and the transport manager. I was advised that due to the Covid situation, a number of drivers in their late 50s and 60s have not come back to work because of health reasons and replacing them has become an issue. There is also the issue of not being able to recruit escorts. I spoke to the manager of the transport section, who was very helpful, about recruitment and retention and he advised that driver numbers are down by nearly one third. He would usually be able to get relief drivers but they are not available either. The whole situation has dried up.

There is a short-term and long-term crisis. In the short term, they need to be able to get the service user to the centre over the next period of time. Service users have not been able to use the service since last Thursday. The transport manager suggested that taxis should be provided to services users in the short term but the funding is not available. Special funding would need to be provided for that in the interim or a system of sharing buses from other services would need to be worked out.

In the long term, drivers need to be trained to the level of D1 - minibus drivers - and it needs to be done quickly. It is taking the Road Safety Authority at least eight weeks to perform tests. Garda vetting will also have to be done and then the training. Therefore, it will not happen today or tomorrow. This will be a long-term resolution. Carers need a Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, level 5 qualification to escort the service users. I have been advised that the past two and a half months were worse than the two and a half years of the Covid pandemic. The transport manager had 43 buses running before Covid and has only 29 running now.

As I said, funding will be required in the short term to provide an interim service to the centre's service users and a long-term plan is needed to get transport for these services back on the road again. The Minister has to sit down with the transport manager and representatives from St. Michael's House. I know it is affecting other units, although the unit up the road, St. Michael's House at 107 Cromwellsfort Road, has no problems, I presume because they held on to their drivers since the Covid pandemic. These service users and parents cannot be left in a lacuna, not accessing services. This is not on and it has to be resolved.

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