Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will have the Minister of State out of the Chamber before lunchtime. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. She is welcome back to the House. I am seeking an update regarding the transport charge that is being levied on service users who are attending HSE day services in community healthcare organisation 1, CHO 1, which includes counties Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. As the Minister of State knows well, disability is strongly associated with poverty. People with disabilities are twice as likely to be unable to afford to heat their homes, for example. Previously, I quoted the study compiled by Indecon on behalf of the Department of Social Protection that found the cost of having a disability is estimated at between €9,482 and €11,734 extra per year, on top of everyday expenses. Households that include people with a disability have to spend more not only on daily living costs but also on transport, therapeutic equipment, medical expenses, domestic services, equipment aids and appliances, to list but a few. With the cost-of-living issues and increasing inflation, the challenges are more acute. It is serious when extra charges are levied on families of persons with a disability and it is worse when the charge is levied in one area and not in others. CHO 1 is currently the only area in the country where charges are being levied.

As I raised previously, the transport charge has been applied to service users who are attending HSE day services at a cost of €4 per trip or €20 per week in the CHO 1 area. That amounts to a total of €960 per annum for a person with a disability. I am aware of a number of families with two persons with disabilities, which means transport costs of almost €2,000 per annum, which is a huge amount of money. It would be heartbreaking if families were to lose out or suffer a reduced level of service because of these costs.

As the Minister of State knows, the charges have been levied because the routes involved are deemed to be closed routes or exclusive routes. People who are using an open route can use their free travel passes, for example on Bus Éireann services. Unfortunately, that does not apply to this particular service. The problem with the CHO 1 area is that the routes are deemed to be closed routes. The service is top class but, unfortunately, many families simply cannot afford it.

I fully accept that the HSE decision to charge is to ensure there will be a service in the first place. However, by introducing this charge to ensure that no one loses out on a service, the HSE has created an inequality in the CHO 1 area. That is unfair on the people of Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

When the Minister of State and I previously spoke about this issue, she mentioned that she had taken over the chairmanship of the transport committee, which I had no doubt was a positive development. Knowing the Minister of State as I do, I do not doubt that she will apply a bit of common sense and joined-up thinking in respect of how to address issues such as the one we are discussing this morning. I eagerly await her response about progress on this issue.