Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Against the grim economic background that is growing by the day, I appeal to this House, the Minister for Finance and the Cabinet to apply a very important sense of proportion to the areas to which they apply cuts. I am referring in particular to the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. I was phoned by ageing parents yesterday about their 42-year-old disabled daughter who has Down's syndrome and whose entire €22 allowance has been cut. She works padding headboards. Worse than this is the fact that her parents' respite care, which consists of one weekend per month, has been cut. The total cut by Ability West in Galway on the instructions of the HSE is a little more than €200,000.