Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

The response only reiterates what I was told a number of weeks ago when I asked whether the money would be spent on disability. I am certain of the Government's commitment to disability, and of the allocation of the €50 million. However, experience has told me that while the Health Service Executive informs us and the Government that it is allocating money to a particular area, the evidence shows — as with A Vision for Change last year — that the HSE does not go on to spend the money in the area that has been identified. That is not acceptable.

I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, is taking the matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I urge him to convey my concerns to her and to ensure that this year we will be in a position where we can believe that the money we allocated for disability will be spent on it, and that at the end of the year we will not be told it was not possible to spend it in that area. We now have a chance to intervene. The evidence is that those preparations are not taking place and that parents have been told it is not possible to ensure a place will be available for their children in September.