Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have a serious problem here. The person in the HSE or elsewhere in the health service who drafted the Minister of State's response has his or her numbers badly wrong. I appeal to the Minister of State to sort this out. A senior official in the Department of Health needs to speak to the person who drafted the response to ask him or her why it is suggested that ICARE has applied for €41,000, or less than half of what it requires. I spoke to representatives of ICARE and the Bluestack Special Needs Foundation in advance of this debate. ICARE is seeking €100,000, as agreed with the HSE. That is what it requires to fund the dedicated core portion of its service. It does all sorts of ancillary works that would not be funded from this €100,000. The Bluestack Special Needs Foundation requires €150,000. The person who put together the numbers in the Minister of State's response is not serving the interests of ICARE or the Bluestack Special Needs Foundation.This response is an absolute disgrace. Let us be clear about the amounts involved, which are €100,000 and €150,000. If that is not what was applied for in 2020, then the application needs to be amended urgently. What has been given is a fraction of that and shows the lack of respect for these two organisations. I reiterate that education, social care, community and health services are referring families to iCARE and the Bluestacks Special Needs Foundation for support. Those organisations have only a fraction of the supports available to the statutory organisations. I conclude by asking the Minister of State for an urgent intervention because these figures are completely wrong. I am certain about that. This is a misrepresentation of what these organisations require and this situation needs to be resolved today.