John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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To follow on from Deputy Ferris's contribution, I will not be repetitive because there is a very straightforward ask. To commence the process in September for completion the following June does not give enough time and it needs to commence 12 months earlier. If that happened, one would get the assessments done, get the funding in place and get the staff in place, which would give some hope of a smooth transition for special needs children coming out of the school environment and going into the adult environment.

Another important issue is the question of the transition itself. It often happens that a child will finish in the Nano Nagle school or any other special needs school and will not know the person who is going to be caring for them in the day services they are going into and will not know where the day services are. There will be no preparation by the school and no opportunity for the school to meet the new carers. The whole thing is operating on a trial and error basis, which is not acceptable for the most vulnerable in our society.

I ask the Minister of State, first, to bring the assessment process back 12 months and, second, to allow for a minimum of a six-month transition for the special needs child, the parents and the carers to get familiar with the new set-up and to make the transition as smooth as possible for what we all know are the most vulnerable people in society, to whom we, as elected Members, have a duty of care.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. I have some knowledge of this service because it is not far from my area. I am based almost as close to the centre as the two Deputies and I know people from my own constituency are using it. I will refer the points made by the Deputies to the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath. I will ask that he meets the Deputies outside the Chamber to try to progress the issue.

I am pleased to outline the position on services for young people with disabilities who need continuing supports from the health services. The Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities which will empower them to live independent lives, provide them with greater independence in accessing the services they choose and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs.

The HSE disability services engage in a detailed and person-centred process with a wide range of agencies every year to identify the most appropriate service provider and quantum of service to meet the individual needs of each school leaver. This process takes place over a number of months and is led by the needs of each individual school leaver. In addition, the HSE disability services also engage with individual school leavers' families to listen to any concerns they may have regarding the process and work with both families and agencies to seek an appropriate placement for the school leaver.

Some 291 applications were submitted to the Cork Kerry community health care disability services under the 2017 school leavers process, including four from Nano Nagle school in Listowel.

A placement was offered to each and every one of these applicants. However, 57 deferred their placement, chose another option or the individuals remained in school for another year.

Notwithstanding that, the Cork and Kerry community health care organisation, CHO, acknowledges that there are some shortcomings in the school leaver process. In order to enhance the process, the CHO has approved the recruitment of two occupational guidance officers. These additional resources will support enhanced delivery of the school leaver process for 2018 and thereafter.

The Minister of State acknowledges that there are still a number of deficits in the school leaver process that are common to all parts of the country. The available funding does not provide for access to multidisciplinary team support and access to transport to and from placements for day service users. Local HSE disability services management, not only in Cork and Kerry, but in other counties as well, continues to work at local and national levels to address these deficits. The HSE will continue to engage with the service users, their families, service providers, national HSE management and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in this regard.

On behalf of the Minister of State, I wish to inform the House that the assessment of needs for each individual school leaver who will require a day service in 2018 has already commenced and a validation exercise will be undertaken by the national office in terms of profiling in the first quarter of 2018. If it would be of any assistance, I could ask my office to engage with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, and suggest that he sit down with Deputies Ferris and Brassil, together with the other Oireachtas Members from County Kerry, whom I am sure have an interest in this matter as well, as soon as he is available to discuss the issues that have been raised tonight regarding the Nano Nagle school, which affect north Kerry and a cohort of people in west Limerick.

John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the indication that the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will meet us. Deputy Ferris and I have requested that meeting. I am sure that Deputies Michael Healy-Rae, Danny Healy-Rae and Griffin have as well. After the previous meeting, we committed to the parents to raise this issue in the Dáil - thankfully, it has been taken as a Topical Issue - and to try to arrange a further meeting. Some of the issues are practical ones. For example, if the timeframe was moved back by six, nine or 12 months, there would be scope to make the transition easier.

Funding will always be an issue. More funding is needed, but when one is recruiting staff for a position that has been approved, the days of ringing someone and asking whether he or she is free to do the job are gone. Now, recruitment has to go through the proper channels, including advertisements and interviews. This can take months. The timeframe that we are allowing ourselves is not enough. We need to be practical on that front.

During the upcoming meeting with the Minister of State, we will also raise the issue of respite for parents, a service that is at a low level, and the need for a practice nurse in the school to help administer drugs and feed some of the children who have life-limiting conditions and need percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, PEG, feeding, etc. The school needs a full-time nurse.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I do not disagree with anything the Deputies have said. Every Deputy will have encountered the parents of children who face personal difficulties in life. The disability sector is one of those areas that every Deputy deals with regularly. On a one-to-one basis, many parents privately tell us that a major concern for them is the question of who will look after their children when they are gone. The safety net of this transitional arrangement is available through these services. The HSE acknowledges in the reply that I read out that the services are not ideal and there are deficits. Unfortunately, we do not have as much money for them as we would like. We are trying to perform a loaves and fishes operation. We have made progress in recent years, but we would love to do more.

As Deputies Brassil and Ferris suggested, if logistical and practical elements can be changed on the ground through dialogue without requiring a pile of money or, indeed, any additional money, that can be thrashed out with the Minister of State.

I have some knowledge of this area because I know a great deal of the west Limerick terrain, and the next closest town to Glin, Athea, Mountcollins and Abbeyfeale is Listowel. No less than is the case with other service providers, there is considerable affinity with the work that the Nano Nagle school does in my part of the world.

This is an emotive and sensitive issue. I welcome the fact that the Deputies have raised it in the House in a constructive manner. The Department involved is not mine, so the only commitment that I can make on foot of what they have said is to ask my office at the earliest possible opportunity to arrange for a meeting between them and the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, officials from his Department and the relevant people from the Kerry area with a view to determining whether, as Deputy Brassil suggested, a practical approach can be taken.