Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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This afternoon, elected representatives had a humbling experience when we met parents and friends of people with intellectual disabilities who were campaigning outside Leinster House. Michelle, Frances, James, Lawrence, Martina and Brendan are six of the 250 adults with intellectual disabilities in Kerry. At present they use the services of the Kerry Parents and Friends Association. The Government intends to change their lives forever and not for the better in 2013. At the 21 locations in my county, despite savings and cuts over the past four years totalling €1.1 million, the staff of the Kerry Parents and Friends Association have demonstrated enormous compassion and goodwill, something obviously lacking in the previous and current Governments. They did so to ensure these cuts did not impact on the services they provide. Unfortunately, because of these cuts there is no other avenue of savings open to the organisation. It has reduced hours and redeployed staff. It has cut relief hours, maximised the skill mix, sent people home from residences at weekends and charged families for day services. It has cut budgets at every centre and in all areas. At a meeting on Monday last week, the management informed families every euro cut from its budget in 2013 can only mean a cut in services. This means home care and residential care will be cut. It means respite will be impacted. On top of this, a further 5% will be cut in 2013, which is a further €400,000. This means the board of directors will face a conflict in January. Does it honour its legal duties under company law and balance the budget, thereby depriving very vulnerable people of essential services, or does it honour its moral duty to these services?

In July, the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, stated in the House that there is no more accurate measure of a nation than how it treats the sick, the vulnerable, the damaged and the dying. I contend very strongly that parents and friends who look after people with intellectual disabilities with provisions through the HSE from the Government provide an invaluable service for those most in need in our communities. I argue very strongly that any further cuts will decimate the services. It is incumbent on any Government, Minister, Government Deputies or anyone with a moral obligation to people most in need to ensure that services are provided for those most in need. There is no justification for any further cuts. There was no justification for the previous cuts, but certainly when they affect the provision of services they are morally and criminally wrong.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Ferris for raising this matter and I am pleased to take this opportunity, on behalf of my colleague the Minister for State, Deputy Lynch, who cannot be here this afternoon, to outline the position on the Kerry Parents and Friends Association. I recognise the valuable contribution the Kerry Parents and Friends Association makes to the provision of services to people with intellectual disabilities in the area. As has been stated, these services include community-based day, residential and support services for more than 250 adults with an intellectual disability and their families in various locations throughout Kerry.

Kerry Parents and Friends Association is funded by the HSE under section 39 of the Health Act. Services are provided through a service arrangement, which is signed on an annual basis and reviewed continually. The agency received funding of €8 million from the HSE in 2012.

As Deputy Martin Ferris will be aware, due to the current economic situation, which was not of the making of this Government, the HSE must manage service levels within the fixed financial allocation provided by Government as set out in the memorandum of understanding. As outlined in the HSE service plan for 2012, the funding allocated to disability services was reduced by 3.7%. The service plan also stated that at least 2% of this should not impact on services and needed to be generated from other savings and increased efficiencies in an attempt to protect front-line services. That, in effect, mean there would be a reduction of 1.7% on front-line services.

The HSE's national consultative forum, which has wide stakeholder representation at national and regional level, meets regularly and identifies and agrees frameworks for addressing efficiencies, with clear actions and outcomes to address required savings outlined in the 2012 national service plan across the disability sector with minimal impact on front-line services. The HSE's objective is to ensure that residential, day, respite and personal assistant services are protected where possible from reductions in front-line services.

The HSE south disability office works closely with Kerry Parents and Friends Association which provides a range of services for adults with intellectual disabilities in County Kerry. The HSE liaises with the association on an ongoing basis to ensure changes in service and the impact of these on their clients is discussed and agreed in advance.

On the budgetary situation for 2013, the HSE is aware that the Kerry Parents and Friends Association management team has been holding meetings with parents and clients on potential changes in service in the future. Pending completion of the national Estimates, budgetary and service planning process for 2013, it is not possible to identify how services will be impacted in 2013. At this point, there is no agreement with Kerry Parents and Friends Association or any other service provider on the budget for next year. The HSE has informed me that it will continue to work closely with Kerry Parents and Friends Association to ensure available resources are used in a creative and flexible manner in order to be more responsive to the needs that present.

The health service as a whole must operate within the parameters of funding available to it and, given the current economic environment, this has become a major challenge for all stakeholders, including the HSE, voluntary service providers, services users and their families. However, by working together through the national consultative forum and finding innovative ways to maximise how we use resources, we can help to protect front-line services appropriately.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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There are days I come in here and listen to the bland answers drawn up by civil or public servants to camouflage what will happen, but after being out there today and being in constant contact with persons with intellectual disabilities, it is both disingenuous and wrong to read out the answer the Minister has read out. They have been told that a further €400,000 is to be cut from their budget this coming year. It is being cut from a budget from which every bit of fat has been taken and only the provision of services is left.

For whatever it is worth to be in this House, if we cannot defend the most vulnerable in our communities then we are betraying those born with disabilities. I spoke to those outside, the sisters and parents of persons with intellectual disabilities, and they told me that persons with an intellectual disability depend on these services because it gives them a life. They depend on these services because they are part of a community. If they did not have those services and such respite, they would be sitting at home with no access to anybody. Furthermore, their families are dependent on those services in order that they can have a life. They are generating significant savings to the Exchequer, yet the Government and its predecessors have betrayed those most in need.

The HSE is quite willing to facilitate the association, if it is given the political direction and the budget from the Exchequer, because it knows the value of those services and the savings generated by them. It is over to the Government to decide what to do.

I am humbled by the presence of the people concerned today in the streets. Last Monday night week, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, was at a meeting with the Kerry Parents and Friends Association and I am quite sure he was as humbled and as emotional as was my daughter, who was representing me on the night. It is of considerable importance that this be dealt with. A bland answer in this Chamber where a Minister reads a script from a civil servant is definitely not good enough in the case of the rights and entitlements of those whom we all represent.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I have heard clearly what Deputy Martin Ferris has stated, as I indicated when taking this Topical Issue on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is well aware of what is going on in the area and is well attuned to the kinds of issues the Deputy raised. Unfortunately, she cannot be here to respond to him and to take up the points he raised so eloquently. I will talk to her about the manner in which he addressed this issue here today.