John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

SOS Services in Kilkenny has been delivering essential day and residential services for almost 50 years. It provides an excellent service. It is run by a very efficient chief executive who assists in a very direct way all of the families concerned. Last year the HSE gave a once-off allocation of €540,000 to cover the once-off costs that SOS Kilkenny was experiencing at the time. This €540,000 payment should be repeated again this year because SOS Kilkenny finds itself under extreme pressure to meet all of the costs it faces.

As has the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, I have come from a meeting of the finance committee where we heard the cost of heating increased in one Department by 70%. We can imagine the cost of services and wages across the board and the difference between section 38 and section 39 bodies. Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny are under enormous pressure. The extension of this is that the pressure then builds up on the families concerned. Some people are now elderly and they find it extremely difficult to cope. They would not be able to cope at all if it were not for SOS Kilkenny.

I have tabled this matter to ask the Minister to repeat the grant of €540,000. I ask that the Minister look at the number of cases that are now with the Department of Health seeking funding for individual cases and families. They are often referred to as business cases but this dehumanises what is going on. These are families struggling with members who have a disability. Some families have more than one child with a disability. Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny stand in the gap, representing the HSE as it were, and delivering very good services.

The fact that so many requests made of the Department for the funding of individual cases are not answered is absolutely despicable. We are dealing with the most vulnerable people in society. It is similar to the CAMHS issue. The parents of young people cannot access the services they require, and it is not tomorrow or in a month's time that they require these services but now. It seems the State is deaf to the calls of the public representatives to provide the funding and professionals necessary to deliver the services required.

On behalf of SOS Kilkenny, all of the families concerned that are under pressure, and the manager of SOS Kilkenny, Francis Coughlan, who is an excellent example of good management, I ask the Department to respond to the request for €540,000. I also ask it to fast-track some of the cases that have been before it for the past four or five years. I want to make it clear to the Minister for Health that in raising this issue today in the Dáil I am reflecting the views of all of the families concerned, the staff concerned and the manager.

I want to add to this the need for respite. This has been going on for far too long. It needs to be funded and delivered. I will ask again and again for delivery of this amount of money.

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