Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and thank the Minister for attending here in person for this issue.

This relates to a special school in my constituency, St. Francis's special school in Beaufort, which mostly serves mid-Kerry, but there are children coming to that school from Kenmare and from as far away as Castleisland. The 52 children who attend there have high dependence needs and require specialised care. The problems arose last year when the services were reconfigured. The various multidisciplinary services that are required there, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy, were delivered by an on-site team and the changes meant that there would be professionals coming in from outside delivering the services. The reconfiguration process for the school was an unmitigated disaster. I have attended a number of public meetings there and have engaged with parents on a regular basis over the past nine months on this, and have met with HSE officials in the county about it.

While the situation has improved somewhat of late in regard to the allocation of hours and the time being spent in the school by the professionals concerned, at the same time the difference in terms of the overall amount of service available to the children compared to what used to be there is far too great and the children who need help are not getting enough help. To compound matters, in the past number of months The Arches, the adjacent respite centre which was available for parents to bring their children to for respite purposes, is no longer available because of various problems that have been encountered by those delivering the services locally. Ultimately, it means there is no respite service available for those who previously would have used this service.

An alternative facility, the Home from Home facility in Ballydowney in Killarney, which provides an excellent service, has approached the HSE and indicated that it is willing to make its physical facility available should the HSE take up the offer and resource the facility with the required staff to provide the valuable and needed respite service, and I hope that this can be done. Locally, the HSE tells me that there is a problem with The Arches respite centre and the HSE is trying to get that sorted out. Ultimately, the children are suffering. Their parents are also suffering. In one family from Kenmare that I am aware of, a parent of a child with high dependency needs had to be hospitalised leaving the other parent alone to take care of that child. That parent is under enormous pressure and has no respite option at all. I understand the parent was given one night of respite. It is not good enough. We need to grab the bull by the horns here and address this for the sake of everyone involved.

I ask the Minister to look at the reconfiguration process and see where it has fallen down, particularly in this instance for this special school. I ask him to consider the broader element of the reconfiguration process but, more specifically in this case, if he could tackle the problem we have with the need for urgent respite care and extra multidisciplinary services for these children.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Griffin for raising this matter. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is on departmental business elsewhere. I assure the Deputy that the Government is fully committed to the ongoing delivery of vital services and supports to children with disabilities to the greatest extent possible within available resources.

The HSE has recognised that it needs to improve the way in which its early intervention services and services for school-aged children operate. To this end, it is currently engaged in a major reconfiguration of its existing therapy resources for children with disabilities into multidisciplinary geographically based teams, as part of its national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people, from infancy to 18 years. The key objective of this programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery. There should be a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, where these children go to school or the nature of the individual child's difficulties.

These service improvements are a key priority for the HSE's social care directorate. An additional €4 million was allocated this year to assist with this programme. This equates to approximately 80 additional therapy posts. Further investment in the programme will take place in 2015.

The programme is already at an advanced stage in County Kerry. Since October 2013, children's disability services in Kerry have been reconfigured into four geographically-based teams for children and young people with complex needs. The reconfigured Kerry Intervention & Disability Services, KIDS, is a partnership among the HSE South, the Brothers of Charity, Enable Ireland and St. John of God Children Services.

Each team provides a range of multidisciplinary services, including psychology, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work, preschool and family support services.

The transition to the new service arrangement was carefully planned over a two year period. It included consultation with the relevant service providers and parent representatives. The four teams in County Kerry were also allocated four additional therapy posts in 2014, which will further strengthen service delivery in the region.

St. Francis special school in Beaufort falls within the remit of the KIDS mid-Kerry team. This new team will deliver services in keeping with the new service model. Interventions will be delivered in way that is fair to all children and families within the geographical area on the basis of prioritised need. I have been assured the team will continue to work closely with staff and parents in planning and delivering a service for the children attending St. Francis special school.

The issue of respite care places at The Arches which is operated by the St. John of God services was also raised. I understand the provision of this service has been somewhat constrained as a result of the challenging behaviour of a resident. I have been assured steps are being taken which should resolve the matter in the coming weeks. Once resolved, The Arches will be able to offer an enhanced service to children.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister and appreciate his response. The HSE has responded to me about The Arches and the difficulty with a particular resident. However, one difficult resident should not prevent everyone else from being able to use the service. Perhaps the Minister might liaise with the HSE to bring about a more speedy resolution of the problem. A few weeks is a very long time to wait for respite care for the parent of a child with moderate or profound special needs. Perhaps the Minister might use his good offices to try to speed up a resolution of the matter.

Will the Minister ask the HSE to liaise with the Home from Home service to see whether there is a possibility of providing extra respite care places through its facilities? The service does fantastic work while operating on a shoestring budget. The option should be explored to see whether more places could be provided in a cost-effective manner.

On the reconfiguration process in general, I received an e-mail from a parent which I will not read because, unfortunately, I do not have the time to do so. The parent who wrote it is very frustrated and calls it as she sees it. She accepts that the reconfiguration might have merit in the overall scheme of things, but it has not worked in the case of St. Francis special school where it has resulted in a serious depletion of services. I acknowledge that there were serious teething problems at the start and that there were difficulties with staffing. I appreciate the provision of extra resources and the four additional posts sanctioned in County Kerry for which I lobbied. I am grateful that they have been provided, but that said, it does not seem to be enough to have the level of service required in the school in question and the matter must be revisited for the sake of the children. Will the Minister revisit the issue and examine the level of service being provided in the facility because clearly it is not enough and the children deserve better?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In theory, these things should not happen, but in reality they do and often one difficult individual can cause problems for an entire service. I do not have detailed personal knowledge of or involvement in the case, as the matter comes under the disability and social care directorate of the HSE, for which political responsibility lies with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I will certainly make her aware of the Deputy's concerns and the fact that he has raised the matter in the Chamber which indicates the importance of the issue for him and others in County Kerry.