Dessie Ellis (Dublin North-West, Sinn Fein)

An Saol Foundation is a charity that supports individuals who are unlikely to recover fully from their traumatic injuries and will therefore require life-long support. It also supports families affected by severe acquired brain injuries, SABIs. It is a strong advocate for those affected by severe brain injuries, ensuring respect and dignity for those suffering from this condition. It works with some of the most vulnerable people in society who are unfortunately often left behind by the health service. It also works to change the misconceptions around acquired brain injury and towards greater independence for those affected by this condition. An Saol works to educate the public and public representatives about the needs of people with SABIs and the importance of early and intensive rehabilitation. It is a strong voice for those who have difficulty advocating for themselves. The foundation promotes access to the proper therapies, specialised care and rehabilitation for affected individuals. An Saol Foundation also assists the families of those affected by SABIs by offering them advice and support and providing various resources to help families to deal with the challenges of having a loved one affected by SABIs.

An Saol Foundation is to the forefront in providing therapies to help people to improve and heal. It is also involved in developing innovative rehabilitation programmes. A recent report from the HSE clearly outlined the necessity for the services provided by An Saol. It also determined that these services needed to grow and should be provided with the funding to do so.

An Saol has developed a number of pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of specific rehabilitation approaches. An example of this is the Teach An Saol project. This is An Saol Foundation's national centre for life and living with severe acquired brain injuries. The centre offers therapy, respite and transitional living hubs, the goal being to help people with SABIs to live fulfilling lives. This will be a state-of-the-art facility and one of the few such centres in Europe. It will be the only one in Ireland. The goal is to have an interconnected centre for highly specialised services specifically aimed at those with SABIs. It is proposed to have a social hub, a therapy hub, a respite hub and a transitional shared living hub. A site has been identified in Ballymun for the project. Despite the wide support this project has received, though, there is no certainty that capital funding will be allocated in 2025 to build Teach An Saol.

To date, design and planning efforts worth approximately €500,000 have been contributed pro bono by firms to prepare the application for planning permission and submit it to Dublin City Council, DCC. DCC has made land available in Ballymun for the national centre and An Saol has been working closely with the HSE, which is supportive of the project.

Since the report was published by the HSE, An Saol has had a cut in real terms to its funding. No adjustments have been made to ensure that funding is brought in line with inflation, resulting in An Saol having to scale down services, which has affected staff.

The Minister of State with responsibility for disability has several times over the past two years committed to provide funding for a design and build contract for Teach An Saol. However, this funding has still not been made available to the foundation. An Saol started to work with the HSE on the capital grant application process approximately two years ago but no formal progress has been made in the process. The project has still not formally passed the initiation stages and a national meeting where the application was to be reviewed in April 2024 was cancelled, with no new date yet set.

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