Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, to the House. The Minister is dealing with the second and third motions. May I ask Senator Quinn if he will agree to allow Senator Moran to go first?

Feargal Quinn (Independent)
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Yes.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I appreciate that Senator Quinn has given way and I thank him for doing so. I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, to the House.

I wish to raise on the Adjournment a matter that I first raised more than a year ago. Unfortunately, in that time, nothing has changed. I wish to raise the case of a young girl with an intellectual disability who is in urgent need of residential care. I have spoken to those in the HSE and St. John of God in Drumcar, where the girl attends day services. Unfortunately St. John of God has a no-admissions policy now and the HSE has insufficient funding to provide a residential placement. I have tried everything to move this case forward and have met the officials on the many occasions.

This young girl has an intellectual disability, but she also has extremely challenging behaviour and her parents cannot cope with the situation. I have been to their house and I know the young lady in question. The situation is at crisis point. I am raising this case today but I am also relating it to the more general issue, because I know that in my area of Louth there are up to 30 people on the waiting list for residential placement with the HSE, and I am led to believe the list for places in St. John of God is even greater. This is a major problem and it will become a crisis as the years go by and as elderly parents are trying to cope with their loved ones and find places for them. I am asking for this case to be progressed. I know that since my last meeting with St. John of God it has been agreed that this girl will receive respite hours. Everybody recognises the urgency of this case, which is at crisis point.

Let me restate that we are at a major crisis point. I am asking the Minister not to give me a stock answer again. I acknowledge that additional respite care has been offered, but to me it is like putting a plaster on a very deep wound. It will solve the situation only in the medium term. In the long term we need an admissions policy or extra funding or whatever it takes. I am raising the case of one individual, but there are three crises in County Louth and 30 people on the waiting list. How many more are there throughout the country? These are vulnerable people and their families are the most vulnerable families. They have so much to deal with.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Moran for raising this issue. I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is unavoidably absent as she is attending a conference today.

The named individual is a service user of St. John of God Services, Drumcar, County Louth, and it is from this organisation that she has received all her services to date. I am informed that she lives with her parents and attends day services five days a week. Drumcar Services is a section-38-funded organisation that provides services for clients with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Louth disability services are aware of the current issues pertaining to this family due to the advancing age of the parents, who are finding caring for their daughter very challenging. Her name remains on Louth disability services' waiting list for funding, which is monitored vigilantly.

The vision for the HSE's disability services programme is to contribute to the realisation of a society in which people with disabilities are supported as far as possible in participating to their full potential in economic and social life and have access to a range of high-quality personal social supports and services to enhance their quality of life. The HSE national service plan for 2014 and the 2014 operational plan for the social care division outline the quantum of specialist disability services, the key reform initiatives and the additional investment in 2014. The HSE will spend €1.4 billion and employ a staff level of approximately 15,000 whole-time equivalents in 2014 to provide specified levels of service. An additional investment of €14 million in 2014 also has been made to address deficits in disability services, implement a reform programme to transform services to a community-based model of person-centred supports, and focus on the implementation of the Health Information and Quality Authority standards for residential services for people with a disability. These developments and reform proposals will be carried out in an environment of effective communications and engagement with all those involved in services, including people with a disability, through the HSE's National Consultative Forum. The emerging residential need in the absence of residential development funding over the past number of years is a major challenge for all services providing support to clients with a disability. The issue of funding for residential services will be considered in the context of the Estimates and service planning process for 2015, which will occur in October and November.

In the meantime, I am told that a plan is in place to support this person in attending her day placement at St. Mary's, Drumcar, and ongoing regular respite has been arranged for her.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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Unfortunately, as I said, I am aware that respite has been arranged, from meeting with the officers of St. John of God and asking them for additional respite care.

We have raised the issue of putting services in place. I know that €1.4 billion is being put into the HSE for services, but that is no good to a family who are struggling to cope with the person at home. I know that this lady has been sent home from Drumcar because the staff could not cope. That is not helping anybody. I ask the Minister to intervene because residential placement has to be provided urgently for this person.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that this very severe case is genuine, and I acknowledge that the Senator has raised the matter and taken up this cause. This is a disability matter. I will mention this debate to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and inform her of the exchange.

I wish to be straight up about this. I do not think it should be the role of the Minister for Health or the Minister of State at the Department of Health to intervene in individual cases. Inevitably, when services are constrained and there are waiting lists, for a Minister to intervene on behalf of an individual means displacing somebody else. It means skipping a waiting list or it means using political influence to benefit one individual at the expense of another.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I am not asking for that at all. I am not asking for anybody to do that. I am asking that funding be provided for residential placements for those people who are in urgent need of them.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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The Senator has made the case.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I raised it a year ago and nothing has changed.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that clarification, because there are Deputies and Senators who ask me to intervene in such cases.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I am not asking for that, and I agree totally with the Minister.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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The Senator has made the case.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I need to clarify that as well.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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That is fine. I fully accept the clarification. What it means is that this is a matter for the Estimates process and the service plan. As the Senator is aware, the HSE is running over budget under almost all headings. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and I are working very hard to secure a realistic budget for next year so that in the 21 days after the budget we can develop a service plan which will result in improved services across the board.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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Particularly in crisis places.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There are many crisis places.