David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives of the various groups that provide essential services to people with disabilities who are in the Public Gallery. This is the first motion we have tabled since the budget. We picked the area of disabilities because it is so important. It has moved from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth but it is still a very important part of the delivery of healthcare and the HSE funds many of the services. There has been lots of commentary on the current budget and underfunding of health services and the very deliberate intention of the Government to not properly fund health services next year, which include disability services. All of the groups I have met are very disappointed with the overall allocation and additional spend and the fact that it will not be enough even to fund the Government's own capacity review. The review was done up to 2032; we are still waiting for a funding model. We do not know what it will be year-on-year. It seems it is at the whim of the Government every single year and in every budget. Organisations cannot plan and nor can the HSE if it does not have multi-annual funding and we do not know, up to 2032, exactly what is to be funded.

I have a number of clear questions for the Minister. One challenge we all have at budget time and is difficult for us all to understand is what exactly is in the budget and what is not. Last year, more than €80 million was made available to these funding organisations to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. I know that was classed as one-off but all of those costs still exist today. Is that money being made available this year? If not, that will be a big black hole in the funding of many of these organisations and their ability to provide services. It will bite and bite hard. That question has not been answered sufficiently yet. We have been asking; we are trying to look at what is in the budget and decipher figures but it is not clear. A very clear, unambiguous statement from the Minister is needed. Has the pot of money that was available last year to deal with the cost-of-living pressures of those organisations been given?

While I welcome that there was an eleventh hour intervention to avert the strike action, it should never have come to that.

I had a Zoom call meeting last night with many of those workers and organisations, and my party leader, Deputy McDonald, Deputies O'Reilly and Tully, and a number of others on the Sinn Féin team. We met with all of those groups and they told us that this was a dark day for disability services because no worker in any of those organisations wanted to go on strike but they had no choice because of the intransigence of the Government and Departments in dealing with their issues.

I welcome the fact that we had clarity, there was some movement on that and strike action was averted but we need a very clear, sustainable funding model for section 39 organisations. What they have said to us is that they need transparency year-on-year regarding exactly what is in budgets. Multi-annual budgets are needed so that these organisations can plan and the additional funding necessary to implement and deliver the capacity review needs to be provided. That is what they want, that is what they need and that is what they should get.

I commend the motion to the Government. I am disappointed the Government has tabled an amendment; that is wrong. The Government should have accepted our motion. I hope that the Minister and the Minister of State will provide clarity on some of those questions I have about funding, because it is very important that the groups who are in the Public Gallery and those who are listening in get answers to those questions.

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