Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation does excellent work in helping sick children to stay at home with their families. I understand more than 300 children are being helped in this manner. The foundation is seeking funding of €1.3 million from the Government to help it continue this excellent work. If it does receive the money, it will not be able to continue this work and many of the sick children it helps will have to go into full-time care, resulting in costs to the State of multiples of the €1.3 million the foundation seeks. Given the current focus on achieving savings and eliminating waste, we would cut off our nose to spite our face if we chose not to give the foundation the money it requires to continue its excellent work and save the State so much money. For this reason, I urge the Leader to make representations to the Minister for Health and Children. Even leaving aside the children, which one should not do as they should be one's first priority, if one considers the issue from a book-keeping perspective, one will conclude the foundation should be given the money it is seeking.