Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very well aware of it. I thank Senator Cummins for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position. He is quite right in everything he has said and I thank him for the very comprehensive overview of the situation pertaining in the Sacred Heart Centre, which provides services for children with complex additional needs.

As the Senator will be aware, the early intervention services provided by the Sacred Heart Centre on Lady Lane, Waterford, empower children with a broad range of intellectual and physical disabilities and challenges, many of which are profound, and their families to develop their full potential in a safe and nurturing environment. Referral to this specialist centre for a child nearing two years of age or younger, if deemed necessary, can be a lifeline for families. Children attending the centre access a range of personal, social, cognitive, communicative and fine and gross motor skills programmes. Family members and staff work as a team to plan, implement and evaluate services tailored to the families' unique concerns, priorities and resilience. The centre also provides training and support to families, communities, preschools and schools, as appropriate. In speaking about referral to this vital service, we have to compliment the staff because the current service is absolutely fantastic, as the Senator has outlined. Any service is only as good as its staff. Having visited the site, I can say that this centre's staff are spectacular.

The Senator mentioned the charity set up to support the building of the new Sacred Heart Centre, Touching Hearts. The current facilities are completely inadequate as they are too small and too old and are not fit for purpose, as the Senator has outlined. The benefits of a new building for children and parents availing of this service include that it will greatly improve morale and on-site facilities and that it will result in improved and increased access for parents to training and education. As the Senator quite rightly said, Touching Hearts has been raising awareness for many years. It has also been raising funds and supporting families and staff. The group must be commended for its tireless work to reach this stage.

The HSE has advised that the development of children's disability services at St. Otteran's Hospital, Waterford, has been approved for inclusion in the HSE's capital plan. If approved, a design team will be procured this year. It is expected that the plans will go to tender in late 2022, with construction due to commence in 2023. The programme of construction should last for a period of 18 to 24 months, but I will come back to this point in my supplementary reply. It is important to recognise that the delivery of capital projects is a dynamic process and is subject to the successful completion of the various approval stages, in line with the public spending code, which can impact on the timeline for delivery.This is welcome news, especially for children who have significant developmental delay in a number of areas and require a considerable amount of individual attention and who are only able to participate in small group situations for short periods of time.