Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The parents of children with special needs in County Wicklow need and want to hear from the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills about the future plans for St. Catherine's Association and all of the services it provides to children in the county. Yesterday 58 superb staff members were let go. Today parents in Wicklow are concerned, frustrated, angry and confused. They do not know what is going on. I understand a meeting will take place on Monday with the board of directors for all parents whose children use the services of St. Catherine's Association and this is a very important process. The five Deputies from Wicklow, and Deputy Donnelly is in the House while Deputy Ferris is out of the country, are all working together on this in an effort to ensure services are retained.

I know there are serious corporate governance and financial management issues in the organisation but my priority and that of the people in County Wicklow is to see its services and the level of care retained. Everything done by St. Catherine's Association was done for the good of children with special needs. The service grew out of need and love. Clearly there are very serious issues and the new board of directors of St. Catherine's Association very much acknowledge this and have been working hard over the past month to attempt to rectify it. These issues must be addressed. From our perspective, we need the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills to work together and meet the new board of directors and put in place a structure to ensure the health, education and residential services can be retained. St. Catherine's Association provides a unique service and we need to ensure it continues. Yes, significant changes need to be made but we need assurances to be given to parents and children that services will be retained and that the issues will be addressed.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is most important that we as a society and a Government protect those who are most vulnerable. In recent years, much concern has been expressed by disadvantaged groups who feel they are taking a disproportionate cut in the services provided to them. I am confident this will not be the case in this situation. St. Catherine's Association was established several decades ago as a voluntary organisation to provide services for those with intellectual disabilities. On a voluntary basis many people campaigned, fund-raised and worked for many hours to establish a service when the State provided very little, if anything, in the area. It has developed and grown and provides an excellent service to many families along the east coast of Wicklow. It is going through change at present but it is very important. I am aware the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, has had dealings with the HSE in this area in recent months and it is important that she gets out the message that the service provided will not suffer and that in whatever manner it is revamped the facilities and services of St. Catherine's Association will remain available to the residents and families. It is important to acknowledge the excellent work done by the many volunteers throughout the years and I hope once we go through this process that people will be reassured. I welcome the decision of the board of directors to meet the families in the coming days to reassure them that services will stay in place. The Minister of State can go a long way to reassuring people and the public that this is not a case of cutting back a service but of revamping one.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Like my colleagues I am glad to have an opportunity to address the subject. St. Catherine's Association was established at a time when families or those with an interest in special needs had to push harder than they do today for anything they got. They got money and established a service at a time when there was no such thing as service level agreements or corporate governance. The service was born in this era, and it is the property of not only the families but also the community which feels it established it. This weekend the local Lions Club will run a fund-raiser for St. Catherine's Association. It will run vintage car runs and make other efforts to raise money to enhance the services provided by State funding through the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills.

It is regrettable that it has come to this. There are issues which have needed to be addressed for some time and it behoves everybody involved to get proactively engaged in resolving the issues. It is very important at this stage that the families, parents and children who are service users are reassured about the quality and type of service that will remain once the process has been completed. This is the most important thing and I urge the senior management of St. Catherine's Association, with or without the HSE, to meet the parents and give them this reassurance and explain to them exactly what has gone on. Too much has been up in the air for the past six months. I ask the Minister of State to bring this message to the Minister and the relevant people involved.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank my colleagues, Deputies Timmins, Doyle and Harris, for raising this issue. I understand people's concern and the necessity to use the Chamber for a very clear statement on the part of the Minister for Health and the Minister of State at the Department and the Minister for Education and Skills. I know St. Catherine's Association as when I was education spokesperson on the other side of the House I worked with it on a number of issues with regard to special educational needs support. I take the point made by Deputy Doyle that this is not just a local concern. It is more important than this because St. Catherine's Association is a fundamental part of the national infrastructure for educational support of children with special needs.

I understand all Deputies in the Wicklow constituency are concerned about the future of the services of St. Catherine's Association in the context of difficulties which have emerged with regard to financial and governance issues, and in particular the fact that St. Catherine's Association has decided that a number of current employees will not have their contracts renewed. It is important to reassure the Deputies and the wider community that the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills are working closely with the service to ensure it will be sustainable for the future.

St. Catherine's Association delivers services to children with intellectual disability and is a valued service provider to people in the area. Services currently provided include multidisciplinary support services to approximately 250 children in St. Catherine's special school and early services including preschool to a number of children on the autistic spectrum. It also provides residential places for 11 children and two adults, and respite services for approximately 75 children.

The HSE provides funding to St. Catherine's Association - which, in 2012, amounted to in the region of €9 million - under a grant as provided for by section 39 of the Health Act 2004. The Department of Education and Skills funds the educational elements of the service separately. In that context, I am assured by the Department of Education and Skills that St. Catherine's Special Needs School remains open to its pupils. The difficulties currently being experienced do not concern the education provided to the pupils. Department of Education and Skills officials have arranged to meet with the school tomorrow morning to discuss the current difficulties and to assist the school.

St. Catherine's has grown significantly over a short timeframe in an unsustainable way. The HSE recognises the value of this service and is anxious to help the organisation to return to sustainability as soon as possible. A financial and governance review is being finalised by the HSE at present and the aim of the close engagement by the HSE is to ensure that this valuable service can continue on a sustainable footing. As part of the resolution of the matter, I understand that St. Catherine's has decided in recent days that it will not be renewing the contracts of a number of staff attached to the educational part of the service. While I understand this may be of concern to parents of children who attend St. Catherine's, it is important to note that it is in everyone's interest that the service be run in a financially sustainable way.

I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, recently met with all the Deputies for County Wicklow. She emphasised that every effort is being made to assist this organisation and, in particular, the children and parents who rely on its services. The aim of this is to protect services for families in a sustainable way.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is particularly encouraging to hear that departmental officials will meet with the management of St. Catherine's tomorrow. It is good news that the Department of Education and Skills will now engage with those concerned.

The Minister of State is correct that our collective aim as a group of Deputies is to protect the services that are in place. I hope the meeting on Monday between the new board of directors and the parents will pave the way forward. The St. Catherine's service is unique and, therefore, it may be necessary to examine new funding methods. It may also be necessary to look at new ways for the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Health and the HSE to work together to continue to deliver some of the innovative services which make St. Catherine's a centre of excellence.

I thank the Minister of State again for his response and I look forward to us working together to protect this service in future.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive and positive response. I regret the fact that a number of people on short-term contracts will lose their jobs, but I hope they can be re-employed somewhere in a similar area of work.

While the Minister of State's reply is reassuring, there have been a few weeks of uncertainty for the families concerned. I regret that the HSE did not keep public representatives for the area briefed on exactly what was happening. If we had had the contents of the Minister of State's speech a few days ago, it could have spared people some difficulties. However, I acknowledge and welcome the commitments that have been made by the Minister of State.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Skills has reaffirmed that its contribution to the education system, including the teaching of these children, will not change. We will have to discuss in some detail, however, the relationship between the HSE, the management of St. Catherine's and the Department of Education and Skills. There has been some tangling of wires in that area because what was part of a €9 million budget for care may have become part of an education stream of funding also. This is the nub of the problem with regard to governance. In anyone's language, €9 million is a substantial amount of money for a service. We could probably never give enough but at the same time there have been no departmental or HSE cuts in this area. It is important to remember that. It is a matter of getting the governance structures right and rebuilding from there.

The Minister of State said that St. Catherine's grew quickly but unsustainably. It is not that long ago, however, that the school was sustainable. It should be possible, therefore, to bring it back to the previous sustainable model which has served so well for over 30 years.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I very much take on board the points that have been made by the three Deputies. Where an issue like this arises, there is a responsibility on the HSE to inform local elected public representatives, including Members of this House, to help assuage community concerns. There is nothing as bad as a vacuum, so I hope that the HSE and others will learn lessons from this. They simply cannot go around the place without informing elected representatives, who understandably will take on board queries and concerns from constituents. I hope the HSE will learn lessons from this affair because that information was not provided, albeit through no fault of the Minister. On the contrary, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, met all the Deputies concerned last week. On foot of her intervention, she made it abundantly clear, both to the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Skills, that the Deputies should be properly informed. In particular, the parents of the children concerned should not be unduly afraid.

This is a unique setting. We have a special school, which is one of a number of such schools around the country. There is also an adult setting and respite services are being provided. Under a number of different expenditure sub-heads, the total expenditure has to be sustained and dealt with properly. As Deputy Doyle said, there are governance issues here which I am sure the HSE and others will work through.

On foot of her representations, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, wants me to state that a meeting will occur tomorrow morning between the school management and the Department of Education and Skills. I am grateful for this opportunity to reply on her behalf in order to put that information into the public domain. We should not cause undue concern to parents because the service will remain. There may be changes in the funding model, but it is crucially important to get that model back on a sustainable level. In that way, these excellent services can be provided to the young people who use them. This is not just important to the people of County Wicklow, but is also part and parcel of a network of special schools around the country that provides a fantastic service to children with challenging behavioural issues.