Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach has made the Government's attitude to the importance of respite care clearly known. I have worked for many years with the Brothers of Charity and Ability West in Galway and I am more than aware of the challenges faced by the sector. I will continue to work with them in helping to overcome the challenges we all face.

The Government's commitment in the areas of disability and mental health is consistent. Overall, approximately €1.6 billion is spent annually by the health service on disability programmes such as residential, day care, respite care, assessment and rehabilitation services. The ways in which services are delivered are examined on an ongoing basis to ensure people with disabilities are provided with the best possible services in an efficient and appropriate manner.

The HSE has advised the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, that it is very much aware of the valuable contribution Brothers of Charity Services Ireland makes to the provision of services for people with intellectual disabilities across the country. In 2009 the HSE provided over €176.9 million for the organisation, an increase of €39.6 million since 2005. This sustained level of additional investment reflects the significant growth and development in Brothers of Charity Services Ireland in the recent past.

The Government is very aware of the importance of respite care and front-line service provision for families of both children and adults with disabilities. It is actively working to ensure these front-line services are protected.

Following the introduction of cost containment and efficiency measures in the 2010 budget, the HSE advised all agencies providing services on its behalf of their financial allocations for 2010 and the required adjustments. The reductions in the allocations for disability service providers in 2010 related to staff pay reductions in line with national guidelines, the Government moratorium on recruitment and a 2% efficiency saving to be applied to non-frontline services such as non-pay expenditure, transport costs, rationalising management structures, merging service functions, merging service providers, etc., without impacting on users of such services. The HSE is required to apply these efficiencies across all service areas within the HSE and all HSE funded service providers under section 38 of the Health Act, including Brothers of Charity Services Ireland.

The Government is fully aware of the challenges which the reduction in allocations will present to organisations in ensuring they meet the needs of service users and planning for emergencies that arise throughout the year. It also recognises that maintaining service levels within available resources will require significant levels of co-operation, change, flexibility and creativity but firmly believes that it can be done.

My colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for disability issues and mental health, Deputy John Moloney, met the HSE assistant national director responsible for disability services on several occasions in recent weeks to discuss the emerging challenges in the voluntary intellectual disability sector. The HSE was asked to confirm that the reduction in financial allocations to the voluntary agencies in the disability sector was applied consistently across all HSE regions and in line with the reductions applied elsewhere in the health service. The HSE was also requested to validate, as a matter of urgency, the methodology used by it to calculate the reductions in allocations for the various agencies. The Senator is aware of what arose in Galway.