Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the appalling cases of young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities who are being denied services because of a lack of funding. I am referring in the main to Gheel Autism Services in Dublin 3, but I have also heard of cuts to services at St. Michael's House, Baldoyle, and other disability services nationally. I ask the Minister what exactly is going on. Where is all the talk of equality and social inclusion while services are being ripped apart? There may be no services for many of these physically and intellectually disabled young adults in September. Imagine TCD or UCD students were treated in such a manner. Imagine third level students were told in such a way that there would be no services for them in the autumn. There would, rightly, be uproar.

Today, we must focus on providing services at Gheel Autism Services in Fairview, Dublin 3. We seem to be able to find the money for increases for politicians and for increases in the pensions of former Ministers. In particular, I refer to a case that was notified to me by a parent. She wrote to me with regard to her daughter who has just graduated from St. Paul's special school for children with autism in Beaumont and who was listed to commence an adult placement in September with Gheel Autism Services in Fairview. A number of parents were called to a meeting with the director of Gheel Autism Services on Tuesday, 13 June. They were informed that due to insufficient funding from the HSE, Gheel Autism Services would be unable to offer placements to their children in September. He also said the board of Gheel Autism Services was not prepared to offer unsafe services to new clients. It is an impossible situation for that parent to leave her daughter at home to regress after all the progress that has been made. It is simply not an option. I ask the Minister to listen to the parents. There were 28 parents at the meeting to which I have referred and many of them are very upset and distressed. Another parent approached me who was affected by cuts to services at St. Michael's House, Baldoyle. That parent received notification of receiving a ten-day support service through July and August which is a total breach of an agreement that was made with parents. Last year, the parent received support services for over three weeks in July and for the second half of August, which amounted to approximately 40 days in total. That is a reduction of 66% in services. As such, the Minister must listen to these families very carefully.

The chief executive of Gheel Autism Services has responded to the HSE in relation to the insufficient funds allocated to meet needs and to ensure the service is in a financial position to provide quality, safe services for the sons and daughters of these families on a full-time basis. The timeframe of 1 September is incredibly tight to guarantee the commencement of day services. The service providers are saying they will endeavour to work towards this deadline but there are a number of confounding factors which must be considered. There is a further problem in that the rental market in Dublin is highly competitive currently. I urge the Minister to listen to these parents of young adults with intellectual and physical disabilities who deserve the services as a right.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Finian McGrath for raising this issue. I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is abroad on Government business.

The Health Service Executive allocates funding to Gheel Autism Services under section 39 of the Health Act 2004 on foot of a service agreement, which is reviewed on an annual basis. In 2014, the agency received funding of €6 million from the HSE for a range of services, including day, residential, respite and outreach services for adults with autism.

I understand that the funding issue raised by the Deputy has been highlighted by the need to provide new placements for young people with disabilities leaving school this year. In that context, full-year funding of €12 million was announced in the HSE's national service plan 2015 to meet the cost of providing new placements for school leavers and those graduating from rehabilitative training programmes this year. Some €6 million of this funding is available in 2015 and is being allocated to community health care organisation areas to meet identified needs in line with the HSE's policy on day services for adults with a disability, as outlined in the New Directionsreport. An additional €1.5 million has since been added by the HSE to the overall allocation, making a total of €13.5 million full-year costs to meet the needs of this cohort of young people.

The HSE is working closely with Gheel Autism Services and has assured me that it has recently been informed that it is being allocated €708,000 to provide placements for 24 young people from 1 September. I understand that Gheel has indicated to the HSE that it does not believe that this funding is sufficient to cover the cost of leasing suitable premises for five hubs needed to accommodate these 24 young people.

The HSE is very aware of the challenges faced by some service providers who may not have the physical capacity within their existing services to accommodate the new intake of school leavers in 2015 but are actively seeking appropriate accommodation to enable a service to commence this year. The HSE has been engaging locally and nationally with these providers, including Gheel, and will continue to work with them to resolve these issues.

In this context, a further €1.5 million once-off capital funding is being allocated by the HSE for the provision of suitable buildings, premises and accommodation. The HSE has invited applications from all service providers, including Gheel, who wish to avail of this funding and its decision on capital allocations will be notified to providers in a matter of days.

The HSE recognises the valuable contribution Gheel Autism Services provides to people with autism, their families and carers. I am assured that the HSE remains committed to working with all voluntary disability service providers, including Gheel, to ensure that the resources available for specialist disability services, including services for school leavers, are used in the most effective manner possible.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I accept the fact that the Minister stated in his reply: "I understand that Gheel has indicated to the HSE ... [that the funding is insufficient] to cover the cost of leasing suitable premises for five hubs needed to accommodate these 24 young people." He has accepted that they have a major problem. Does he accept that the HSE has offered funding at a level that is at least 50% lower than what was assessed on a needs basis by the Gheel service providers? Is he aware that Gheel carried out an in-depth study on the needs of each new service user and its own funding requirements in order to meet its capacity deficits to cater for the growth in autism referrals? This seems to have been ignored by the HSE. It is a simple mathematics exercise to correct the provision of a service.

The HSE issued the New Directions policy in 2012, setting out what is the appropriate model of care for those with special needs and a separate policy document setting out the required provision for people with autism but it has left funding woefully short in contradiction of these new policy commitments. This is the first year in which adequate funding is not being provided. I cannot accept an inferior service to that of previous years for other school leavers. This means that school leavers, in particular, in previous years had the provision of a full service. It is the service provided to the children specifically that is being threatened. That is blatant discrimination.

The HSE has known about the number of school leavers in 2015 for many years, via primary school returns and the national intellectual disability database, and it has not done any planning to cater for the increase in the number despite recent policy documents stating otherwise. I would make the point again that if these were third level students in Trinity or UCD they would have an automatic access to such a service in the autumn, but this is not happening for young people with intellectual disability and that is blatant discrimination.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Based on the speech the Deputy made earlier, he was claiming that some sorts of cuts have been made. As I outlined, an additional €12 million has been provided for a full year in the national service plan, €1.5 million has been added to that and €6 million is available 2015, which is being allocated to the community health care organisation areas. Rather than cuts, additional money is being made available.

In this particular case, €708,000 is being made available to provide new placements for 24 young people from 1 September. On a rough calculation, that is nearly 30,000 per client for four months, therefore, €30,000 is being provided for a four-month placement. It may well be the case that the organisation concerned believes that is insufficient and it may well be correct or it may not be correct. However, what needs to happen is an engagement involving the HSE managers on the ground who know that service well and know similar services well and who can work out whether it is practicable for that organisation to deliver that service for the amount of money that has been allocated, which is substantial.