Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is my second time to address this issue in the Seanad. I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House to take it.

In 2005, Tír na nÓg opened to meet the demand for respite services in Carlow and the surrounding areas. At that time, ten children were availing of the service. Eleven years later, 42 children were using the weekend respite service - with a waiting list of over 30 children - at a premises in a private housing estate in Carlow that was funded by the Health Service Executive, HSE. In December 2015, that facility was closed. In March 2016, in order to fulfil the desperate need for a respite centre, an alternative day respite service providing respite three weekends a month was set up. Children are collected from school on Friday and brought to the Delta Centre from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. We have no emergency or overnight respite service in Carlow or Kilkenny. That is not acceptable.

A local businessman donated a site to Tír na nÓg and a committee was set up to fund-raise in order to help with the construction of a new respite centre, which was expected to cost €350,000. When the committee meets the HSE, it cannot get a commitment on the timescale. Tír na nÓg closed in the middle of December last year. There is talk of a building either in Carlow or Bagenalstown but the HSE would not commit to anything at the committee meeting last week. That is not fair. The system is still closed and we cannot get any information. As a Senator I am aware that there is no follow-up service. I telephone the HSE and the Minister's Department but I cannot get any information.Will a respite service open shortly in Carlow, given that a commitment was given? Last August, the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, was in Holy Angels where he met a committee from Tír na nÓg, including me. We were told we would know in September where the respite service for Carlow would be. There is confusion over whether it will be in Carlow or Bagnelstown. Is it confirmed and can the Minister of State give me further information?