Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I feel compelled to defend the integrity, commitment and passion the Minister of State, Deputy John Moloney, brings to disability issues here. I attended a meeting yesterday with colleagues at which he outlined his plans for the coming months and responded to the controversy over respite care. Deputy John Cregan referred to one of the front-line cutbacks in a respite home in Limerick where the Brothers of Charity received €30 million and were asked to cut that budget by €150,000. To everybody's astonishment, Deputy Cregan revealed that the first cut these Christian people made was to shut down the canteen and send a letter to the relevant parents advising them that their special needs children should now bring a packed lunch. I do not see the compassion in that or how a Government can be criticised, when an order charged with the relevant responsibility, decides that the first thing it will go for is the most vulnerable. That is happening across the country. Whatever the political agenda is, it is despicable. The question that arose time and again, from all sides of the House, was why the administrators are not being cut first. Why is it always the front-line services?

As the parent of a special needs child, I value the respite care provided across the country. It is essential for the well-being of the families concerned that they get that respite. What the people who are charged with this responsibility are doing is despicable. A sum of €1.6 billion is being spent on disability issues here and more than 600 organisations are working with the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney. He has initiated a cost-benefit review which will report in September. It is already showing there is duplication and wasteful use of public funds. I look forward to the results of that review. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, to the House at the earliest opportunity in the new session to give us the benefit of his expertise in this area.