Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising the important issue before the House today. Respite services are a priority of mine all over the country. To be quite honest, the lack of respite services when I came into this portfolio was one of the reasons I made it a priority. The Senator identified an issue in his county of Cavan. There is no doubt that the current arrangement cannot stay as is. The status quo cannot stay in place when two counties are sharing children's respite on alternative weekends. It is no longer acceptable that Annalee View Respite Centre provides children's respite every second week. That is why I tasked the HSE in 2023, particularly in the Senator's area of CHO 1, to draft current need of actions to do with respite in Counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan. To be fair to the disability manager in the Senator's area, Edel Quinn, she prioritised the case for needing a stand-alone children's respite house in County Monaghan.The proposal has gone forward to the HSE with her recommendations and my additional recommendations. As I stand before the House here today I can say that we have allocated and sourced €15 million in this year's budget and I do not find it acceptable that children must share respite on alternative weekends in the Senator's area so this is now a priority. The priority of funding has been ring-fenced in order that Annalee House can become an adults-only service so that we can provide respite to the families, not every second week of adult children but every week. At the same time a new house for children in Monaghan will be procured. That will mean we will be able to provide respite to 85 families. The Senator has told me that 57 people are already waiting and there are 36 in receipt. We should just actually hit the baseline of the requirement. We will not exceed it but 85 places is when you have a fully functioning service that works 7-7. At the moment, Steadfast House provides 840 bed nights. The facility only operates 36 weeks of the year and it does not work 7-7 by any manner or means. To be very fair to Edel, she has funding available if the staff can be sourced. That can go at full tilt. We, in the interim, can provide additional resources there as well. On the capital and revenue piece to operationalise a service in the Senator's county, the funding is there. It is ring-fenced. The case has been made to the national office, which is supported by my office and the disability manager. Now it is a matter of putting plans into action and funding is not an issue.