Dáil debates
Thursday, 13 December 2018
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Autism Support Services
6:45 pm
Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Galway Autism Partnership is in danger of closure in the new year. We attended a very emotional but factual meeting at the end of November when the partnership pointed out that it is a charity with one full-time worker and two part-time workers. It is utterly reliant on voluntary workers. It provides community support in the form of camps and clubs to over 203 families. It serves individuals, children and adults with autism. Those families cannot survive without these services. That was made crystal clear to us. It is interesting that 53% of the referrals to the service are from State funded agencies. The HSE and Tusla are referring people to the Galway Autism Partnership while it is trying to survive on a shoestring budget, fund-raising and charity.
This simply cannot continue. We are due to have a meeting with the HSE tomorrow and I hope there will be a positive outcome. The partnership applied for funding under section 39 but was refused. To offer an example, there are millions of euro sitting dormant in various dormant accounts, including in the Department of Health. I would not raise a matter at this time on a Thursday night unless it was urgent. We need intervention on this matter so this essential service can continue in the new year.
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I support my colleague regarding the Galway Autism Partnership. It is a community charity. In many cases voluntary bodies that receive State money provide very good value for that money.
They often collect money also. Given the whole ethos of volunteerism behind the partnership, it gives a very good service. When considering this particular organisation, we must understand the nature of autism and the challenges faced by parents. These are 24 hour every day challenges. The Galway Autism Partnership, GAP, facilitates connection and supports with the parents. We are talking about 3,545 hours of special interest clubs, camps and community events. While these supports are important for children who do not have autism, they are hugely important in the case of autistic children. The partnership also provides parent and carer support groups in several locations in Galway city and county, and it provides many other services, way too many to mention in the few minutes we have here.
A parent wrote to me:
I am a parent, carer and usually therapist for my children because my children do not get meaningful health services. The frontline staff does their best in the HSE, but they are under-resourced, doing an impossible job with a consistent lack of resources.
The reality is that the supports needed by parents and their autistic children are not being given. GAP is fulfilling a very important role in providing those services, but it needs money. As my colleague said, on the one hand they are refused section 39 finding and on the other hand, we know that €150 million of Dormant Accounts Fund money is lying dormant and unused by the Government, part of which was to be given to people with a disability. This money, which arose out of the DIRT inquiry, was to be given for the purpose of helping community groups not for funding of State services. I ask that the Minister of State would make representation to his colleagues to do something urgent about this case because if we do not do it now, we might find that after Christmas we have no service in Galway.
6:55 pm
Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, I thank Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív for raising the issue of funding for Galway Autism Partnership, GAP. The Minister of State sends his apologies. He wanted to be here but with the way things went today, he could not make it so I will give the reply on his behalf.
The Galway Autism Partnership, which was established in 2011, provides a range of activities and supports for children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder in the Galway area. The organisation is actively involved in peer and family support, providing information and advocacy, creating opportunities for social engagement as well as participation in education and training. The partnership provides talks on autism and support services for siblings and parents of children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. They certainly do great and valuable work that is endorsed by Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív.
The HSE recognises the important support that Galway Autism Partnership provides to people with autism and to their families and loved ones. While the HSE does not provide core funding to the partnership, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, understands that in 2017, it was awarded €5,000 in HSE national lottery funding for the facilitation of summer camps for children aged three to 18 years of age living with autism. In 2018 it received funding of €8,800, including €5,000 through the national lottery small grants scheme, which is administered through the HSE and the balance through a grant under section 39 of the Health Act 2004.
I understand that at the partnership’s request, a meeting was held recently with senior management from the HSE’s social care division to discuss the organisation’s funding requirements for next year and that a further meeting with the HSE, and including public representatives such as the Deputies, is scheduled for later this week. I believe this has been confirmed for tomorrow.
Deputies will be aware the HSE’s national service plan for 2019 has not yet been published. Pending publication of the plan, it would not be appropriate for the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to comment on specific funding requests at this time. The Government remains committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities, which will empower them to live independent lives, providing them with greater independence in accessing the services they choose and enhancing their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs and plan their lives.
Deputies may be aware that last week, my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, published two reports on autism - a report on the prevalence of autism in Ireland carried out by the Department of Health, and a review by the HSE of the services available for people with autism. The review identities key priorities for implementation by HSE including: the establishment of a programme board tasked with implementing the recommendations in the report; the development of a programme of awareness raising; and guidance to clinicians and service development. The Minister, Deputy Harris, asked the HSE to proceed with the implementation of the recommendations in their report and this commitment will be reflected in the HSE national service plan for 2019 and will form part of an overall autism plan to be published next year.
Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív have asked me to bring a message back to the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, which I certainly will. I will make sure he gets the information but he is well aware of the situation and of the meeting that is happening tomorrow. Hopefully, they will be able to enlighten the Deputies and GAP, with more information at that meeting.
Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I do not doubt the Minister of State's bona fidesbut I find his answer disappointing. We are going to a meeting tomorrow that came about as a result of a public meeting and serious pressure. The message from the health executives is that they have no money. We need a more positive message for a group on the ground that is saving the State money with the hours the partnership provides, which is more than 4,000. Services in Galway for people with autism are simply appalling. Only this week I dealt with a person with autism who was expelled from school. He was told to go to the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, but it had no service for him. He was told to go to occupational therapy, but it also had no services for him. He was told to go to Athenry for services, but I have a letter that tells me there is a more than a three year waiting list there. Parallel with this situation, GAP is on the ground providing a service on a shoestring budget and saving the State money. It is simply asking for support so it can continue to help people with autism to live as independently as possible. That is all we are asking for. In the absence of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, who should be here, I ask that the Minister of State, Deputy English, take a hands-on approach in this matter. At the very least, the partnership needs hope and practical help.
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I know the Minister of State, Deputy English, is just here to pass on the message and that he has no direct responsibility, but the message follows the normal pattern. Three quarters of it explains what we know already and then we get to the meat of it, but really there is no meat there.
One of the more shocking things the Minister of State said is that the 2019 HSE national service plan has not yet been published. This is now 13 December and 2019 begins on 1 January but we have no plan yet from the HSE. We know that once we get the plan, it has to all trickle down to the bottom line. This is just bad administration. We are then told that there are studies going on. To be honest, parents do not want studies, they just want GAP to continue doing what it does with a small amount of money. I do not see anywhere in the reference to action in the Minister of State's reply that gives me hope, such as the human service provided by GAP. There is no evidence in the Minister of State's response of the very things the parents and children want, and which they have begged us to give to them, which are the supports and somebody to telephone when a child or parent is down and feeling low or challenged. I hate to have to say that.
Will the Minister of State, Deputy English, bring the message back that Galway wants this voluntary service that has been run on a shoestring? The partnership will continue to run on a shoestring but will the Department give it enough money to keep it open?
Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív for raising the issue and on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, I apologise for him not being here. I will certainly bring back the message. He acknowledges the hard work and dedication of the volunteers in the Galway Autism Partnership, who have worked diligently over the years to deliver important and vitally needed supports for people with autism and their families. There is the meeting tomorrow and I am sure there will be other meetings. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, would, obviously, like a positive outcome to that because we want to see that good work continue there. While the Minister of State is not in a position to comment on funding for specific organisations at this time, he wants to assure the Deputies that the Government and the HSE are committed to improving autism services and this work is well under way.
Deputy Ó Cuív referred to the HSE national service plan for 2019.
8 o’clock
The Deputy is right that it has not been published yet. It is December. That situation is quite normal because the budget was only announced in October. While the Deputy says it has to trickle down, much of the work that features in the HSE budget plan trickles up as well. It comes with recommendations and requests from each county and local area for the funding they require for each service. That is put into that national plan as well, so it works in two ways. There is consultation in the offing. I have a meeting tomorrow which is very timely because this plan will be finalised in the very near future. An important part of the HSE's future work on this will be the implementation of the recommendations of the HSE review group, which is a report that the Minister, Deputy Harris, will have asked to be carried out and implemented over the last year. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, is particularly pleased that individuals with a lived experience of autism will take part in this process. Publication of the review report and the HSE's implementation of its recommendations over the coming year mark significant milestones in advancing services for people with autism in Ireland. I think we would all agree that the service is not where we would like it to be but we have to put a plan in place to get there and that is something the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, are driving. The services have not been there for a long time.
7:05 pm
Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The plan is there but there is just no money.
Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Again, I am stating that this is what the Minister and the Minister of State want to do. Health funding has increased in the past two years. There was a significant increase in this year's budget. Each year, we are in a better position to provide services and, hopefully, to improve them, although I am conscious that there are also increased demands on those services. For a long number of years, the service was not funded properly and the desire of both Ministers is certainly to improve that situation and to fund it where they can to create a better and enhanced service. They also desire to work with the voluntary sector. The Deputies are absolutely right that voluntary organisations provide excellent work and give great value for taxpayers' money when they do get funding. That is well recognised and hopefully tomorrow's meeting will be fruitful in that regard.