Mary Moran (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I wish to raise the severe cutbacks to the service provided by St. John of God services in Drumcar, County Louth, and the effect this is having on the users of the service. St. John of God north-east services provides for the care of people with an intellectual disability and this year alone the cutbacks to the service amounted to €1.5 million. Since 2005, the cutbacks have come to over €4 million.

I have first-hand experience in witnessing how the staff there have continually implemented increased efficiencies, including taking on additional responsibilities. One of the respite care workers told me that shower facilities, including gel and shampoo, used to be provided but the staff, on their own time, now buy shampoo to take in for the children or adults in respite. They have done everything possible but at this point they can no longer deliver the previous levels of service. The users and their families are now being hit with these cuts.

In the residential services alone, it will not be possible to accept any more admissions without specific funding for such places, and I and other colleagues have raised this in the Seanad in the past couple of weeks. Currently in Drumcar there are 60 people on the waiting list, with seven in need of immediate placement. There are people in need of residential care and I am fighting hard for one particular family where a daughter is paraplegic and needs percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and 24-hour care. However, there is no place for her and age is not on the parents' side. The mother's health is also suffering, although she is providing 24-hour care for the daughter because there is no residential place available.

Since 12 June there is only one respite house in operation, while previously there were two working. As a parent of a child using the respite services, I am gutted, as are the other parents who have come to me. The children would have had access to respite every month before but respite for children is now down to ten days in the month and available for 20 days for adults. Dividing that between the 80 children seeking the services, it results in one day every eight months. People live for respite as it is the only break they get. With all the implementation of such cutbacks, if we do not seek something to alleviate the pressure in St. John of God, it will only add to the mental health issues of families and people helping to care for the service users.

The places for day services are now full; specifically, the Drumcar Park Enterprises and Venegas centres, where students would traditionally go, are full. In a recent letter received by parents from the St. John of God services, it was hesitantly indicated that there were suggestions in some forums that a way around the difficulty would be for a client to have two days of day services one week and three days the next. Thank God, it was mentioned that it is not their intention to implement this system immediately, as it would be a detrimental move. Any children leaving school at 18 know that if they fill in a CAO form or college application, they know where they are going. It is awful that the most vulnerable children are being hardest hit.

The St. John of God services also used to traditionally give a weekly allowance to clients. It was a pittance but it meant much to those people, bringing a feeling of independence. The clients cannot understand how they have lost what they call their money for their work, or the part-time jobs in some of the service units within the St. John of God service.

I fully support the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and the Government in the policy in the programme for Government to maintain people in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. In order to do this, there should be adequate support. That is where respite options come in, and people can do it if they know they will get a break. That might only be one or two nights a month. Traditionally, respite services used to be able to offer parents of children and adults two weeks holidays during the summer that could be spread out but that cannot happen. If there is a family emergency, there is no guarantee that respite will be available. When a person cannot feel there is somebody to help in an emergency, it can be very scary.