Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo what Senator Conway said about Community Sponsorship Ireland. This is a significant point in the context of the important debates we must continue to have about migration. This particular initiative goes back to 2015 when the Government established the Irish Refugee Protection Programme. It is important we get local communities engaging with refugees, welcoming them into communities in practical ways such as receiving them when they first come to the country and assisting them with all that is necessary in connection with settling down and thriving in Ireland. I commend the work of that programme and urge communities to get involved.

The closure of the Cuisle holiday centre in Donamon, County Roscommon, has been a decision of the Irish Wheelchair Association which has invoked a passionate and critical response from service users and their families. My colleague, Senator Hopkins, has raised this issue eloquently, as have others. The consensus among many observers, including the Taoiseach, is that this decision is regrettable. Indeed, the Taoiseach conceded the decision will have a negative impact on the economy in the region, as well as everything else, because 48 jobs will be lost at the centre.

I welcome and commend the Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, Deputy Harty, for inviting the Irish Wheelchair Association to a meeting to give a comprehensive account of its actions in this matter. I hope to participate in that meeting. There appears to have been no genuine or meaningful engagement with service users prior to the shock announcement of the centre’s closure. Many of those who protested outside the gates of Leinster House last week felt utterly betrayed by the Irish Wheelchair Association. They also felt shut out of the decision-making process by an organisation which supposedly has been representing their concerns.

Only last July, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, assured the other House that the provision of respite services, to enhance cost efficiency and continuous quality improvement, including those at Cuisle, would continue to be provided and that all this would be done in consultation with all the families of people with disabilities. Here we are, however, four months later and the service at Cuisle is being dismantled against fierce local and national opposition. The Irish Wheelchair Association claims its rationale is consistent with the policy trajectory in the HSE document, Time to Move on from Congregated Settings, A Strategy for Community Inclusion. Who are the real beneficiaries, however? What has happened under the heading of consolidating a healthcare service is affecting inappropriately what is in fact a holiday facility for people. It seems to have been done in a top-down way without consultation. We need to continue to keep the pressure on about this issue. We should certainly take an interest in what will happen at the health committee.