Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for her statement and the documentation we have been provided with that details the elements of both Votes. I will focus my contribution on Vote 40 and raise some issues with what has been outlined and what the Minister outlined, much of which is welcome, particularly the increased budget for disability which we must acknowledge. It has been rising and that is welcome.

That said, one of the key measures here is to progress the action plan for disability services, which is very important, but very much to focus on the supports and services to ensure they are person centred and enable those who rely on them. I recently met representatives of the Brothers of Charity in Roscommon town. Their overall budget this year is down by €8 million. They have seen a drop in funding for County Galway of €2 million and it impacts Roscommon by a loss of about €500,000. When I met the Brothers of Charity, both the manager of the Roscommon area and of Galway, there was a list of parents seeking respite. The manager had, I think, about €10,000 and was trying to work out how to divvy it up between parents, some of whom had children with additional needs aged 18 years and who had never had respite. It is frightening to think how in this day and age, with a surplus of more than €8 billion this year and when we are one of the richest and most successful economies in Europe, somebody is in a position where they are trying to work out if they can give a few hours' respite here or there and who is going to lose out or who will get respite. It is frightening to think that is the position we are in when we are such a rich country. These are our most vulnerable citizens. Therefore, while we talk about disability funding, and I acknowledge that it has increased, we must make sure the funding is getting to those who need it most. I cannot understand how those like the Brothers of Charity are down €8 million of funding and are scrimping and scraping, especially when it comes to desperately needed respite. The representatives told me they have about 35 people on the list for long-term residential care and there is nowhere for them. They also spoke about the huge difficulties they have with transport and transport costs. This is particularly acute, as the Minister will know, in rural areas especially.

On the assessment of needs and the continuation of the waitlist initiative, I want to press the Minister again on Cara's fund and additional funding for that as well as the long overdue need for a workforce plan. Yesterday, I spoke of the issue with CORU recognition. While I appreciate it is not under the Minister's Department specifically, I would ask that she speak to the Minister for Health on that. A pathway has been found for occupational therapists where they train in England for their masters there and come home. The same pathway should be there for speech and language therapy but it is not. Will the Minister please engage on that? I am dealing with someone who has been ten months home, who is a fully qualified speech and language therapist and who cannot work. We are crying out for them. Her training was in England. It was not in the Third World. We need to look at that.

I welcome that there has been movement on pay for the section 39 workers but we need to go much further. I would like to see additional funding and a commitment to that, especially as we approach the budget, to give certainty to those in our community and voluntary organisations who, when it comes to assessment of needs and various therapies, do exactly what they do in the HSE but are not paid anything like what they are paid in the HSE. We need to look at that, especially when waiting lists are as they are.

I welcome the additional funding that has been made available to family resource centres. Unfortunately, I understand only a very small number of family resource centres will have the opportunity to come in under the national programme for funding which is so important to them. The Minister will have huge demand with the family resource centres wanting to come in. There are two which I engage with a lot in my constituency. One is Ballinasloe, a town in County Galway that is identified by Pobal, particularly in the town area, as extremely disadvantaged. It should have had a family resource centre two decades ago but there is one there now. It is fantastic in the services and supports it provides but it will be hamstrung if it cannot get sustainable funding as it starts off. Similarly, South Roscommon Family Resource centre, based in Roscommon town, also provides wonderful services and supports to its community.

It very much relies and will depend on this funding from the Department. Of course, not everyone will be able to get in, but everyone in this House recognises the work of family resource centres. We need to look at opening that up to many more of them.

On the expenditure allowance for special care, there is an allocation of €1.2 billion and a list that includes special care. The Minister will be well aware of the external report published yesterday on behalf of Tusla. It makes very concerning reading, particularly in respect of the severe recruitment and retention crisis. We are seeing departure rates exceeding recruitment. In fairness, it seems a lot has been done to try to recruit but due in particular to the violence, harassment and aggression that is being seen, people are really struggling. There is a high level of absenteeism as well. That needs to be looked at in the context of funding. Again, it is not just about funding. The report is very clear on that. It reads like a cry for help in terms of the need for other Departments and State agencies to be at the table and to play their part, which, from the look of the report, they are not doing.

Additional funding is going into early years. Nobody can deny that, but the reality is we still have huge waiting lists, significant capacity issues and parents are still paying far too much for childcare. Many families are really struggling.

I welcome the building blocks capital programme, which provides a great opportunity for an awful lot of communities. I raised the matter of Ballinasloe Community Childcare Group in my constituency with the Minister. Demand there far exceeds capacity. It looked to that capital programme but because it does not own the land, it cannot access the funding. I appreciate that it is taxpayers' money but this is a genuine case. This group has an existing childcare building it is looking to extend. The owner of the land is willing to develop that. This group will then buy the land, as it did for the building it is in today. Given the capacity issues, I ask that we try to find ways, in genuine cases, where the benefit of where the money is going can be very clearly shown, to possibly look at that as an avenue.

See this speech in context