Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are people in this House who set up agencies and paid chief executives in excess of ¤80,000. I am a member of a group in Clare. They may speak for themselves if they so wish. They have called me often enough when I was in the House but I am here now. I am a member of a voluntary group in Clare, the Clare Crusaders. A total of ¤260,000 has been raised by the service in Clare and it is run on a voluntary basis. We provide a service to 240 children with not a bob from the State. No one is paid and there is no chief executive. We pay the therapists. The organisation is run in the same was as a school. We set up a board of management and we hire the therapists. However, this will be a cross-departmental issue because ¤2.449 billion is going to these agencies and advocacy groups.

I have referred to advocacy groups already and I wish to put it on the record again today. All the funding going to advocacy groups should be stopped now for the same reason, namely, they do not provide any service. I do not need anyone else to advocate for what my child needs. I would prefer to have the service. The Carers Association was referred to some time ago. I asked what the chief executive of that association received. As far as I know he walked out of one job and into another. This is the type of carry on we find. People should read page two of The Irish Times. If they do they will get a good education about where all the money, some ¤2.449 billion in total, is going. Respite hours are being cut. How did that happen? The staff are still there because we did not let any of them go. We cannot do so because they are covered by the Croke Park agreement. What do they do? They cut the respite hours. They cut ten days per year. There is not much left after that.

I said to Senator Moran that I would say a few words today. I put all of this on the record and I stand over every word I have said. If we do nothing else this year we should ensure the money follows the client. I should be able to buy the service where I want to buy it. It will not be provided to me by the so-called voluntary bodies and service providers. There is nothing voluntary about them and there never was. They are organisations that have ripped off this country for years. We need to put a stop to it and we should do so while we are in government. We should do it now. Members should examine the figures. They are astronomical.