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

I am glad the Minister of State is in the Chamber. I know from having been contacted by representatives from WALK that there have quite a few frantic telephone calls since I tabled this Topical Issue matter and since the board of WALK took the decision to close its residential service. That is what it was moving towards.

WALK is an organisation in Walkinstown that is aimed at empowering people with disabilities, many of whom have quite complex needs. Its aim is to try to ensure that people live a self-determined life where they can go to work and enjoy themselves and, in some cases, access community living.

A number of residential spaces are available through WALK, which provides that service. In fact, it provides it for people with quite complex needs, which would cost the State a fortune if it was paying the private sector rather than a charity, as it is in this case. I will come back to that, however.

WALK, like every single organisation and person in Ireland, has suffered a cost-of-living increase in its costs that has not been addressed. The funding it is getting is not sufficient to ensure that it can survive or continue the work it has been doing quite successfully. Representatives from WALK told me that, in the main, the average that charities that provide this work get in terms of a resident is approximately €140,000 whereas in the private sector, it is between €300,000 and €360,000. There is, therefore, a big gap. Yet, here is an organisation that has seven empty spaces as we stand, and an additional seven that it can take on to save the State money. It also had a previous home that could take another seven but the HSE has not been engaging properly. That is one of the key issues.

We have an organisation that is addressing the needs of our society, not with huge costs but on the cheap in some ways, and it has gotten into difficulty. Mr. John Bourke of the WALK board said that enough is enough. He said they have a huge debt that they cannot sustain and they have done their due diligence and something has to give. The HSE must, therefore, come up with a programme to address this, and not the programme that was being discussed with WALK, which was to do with lowering the skills set of those working in the residential service. It should be increasing it. Payroll cost is going to be minuscule the terms of the costs here. WALK said there is an €800,000 deficit. That needs to be addressed and that can be addressed by increasing the rate at which the HSE pays for those who are in the residential facilities it has. That means they have that comfort. The officials can go to a bank and say that this money will be reduced. Otherwise, the organisation will be called into question, like many other charities that provide services. That needs to happen quickly. The stuff around payroll, rostering and all of that can come at a later stage if needs be. There needs to be a commitment to ensure that those families or, in fact, individuals who depend on WALK to provide the service are protected. There would be nothing worse than if there was a break in continuity for those who have those complex needs and if, all of a sudden, the service was gone and they were back living at home again or wherever they came from in the first instance. I appeal to the Minister of State to make sure that this is addressed as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context