Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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This is my second time to address this issue in the Seanad. I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House to take it.

In 2005, Tír na nÓg opened to meet the demand for respite services in Carlow and the surrounding areas. At that time, ten children were availing of the service. Eleven years later, 42 children were using the weekend respite service - with a waiting list of over 30 children - at a premises in a private housing estate in Carlow that was funded by the Health Service Executive, HSE. In December 2015, that facility was closed. In March 2016, in order to fulfil the desperate need for a respite centre, an alternative day respite service providing respite three weekends a month was set up. Children are collected from school on Friday and brought to the Delta Centre from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. We have no emergency or overnight respite service in Carlow or Kilkenny. That is not acceptable.

A local businessman donated a site to Tír na nÓg and a committee was set up to fund-raise in order to help with the construction of a new respite centre, which was expected to cost €350,000. When the committee meets the HSE, it cannot get a commitment on the timescale. Tír na nÓg closed in the middle of December last year. There is talk of a building either in Carlow or Bagenalstown but the HSE would not commit to anything at the committee meeting last week. That is not fair. The system is still closed and we cannot get any information. As a Senator I am aware that there is no follow-up service. I telephone the HSE and the Minister's Department but I cannot get any information.Will a respite service open shortly in Carlow, given that a commitment was given? Last August, the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, was in Holy Angels where he met a committee from Tír na nÓg, including me. We were told we would know in September where the respite service for Carlow would be. There is confusion over whether it will be in Carlow or Bagnelstown. Is it confirmed and can the Minister of State give me further information?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue again. She is very passionate about it and she is working on it. I will read the response and we can discuss it afterwards.

Holy Angels Day Care Centre is a disability agency providing services, including a preschool service for children with disabilities, in Carlow. The facility is funded on an annual basis by the HSE under section 39 of the Health Act. It received funding of approximately €720,000 in 2015. Respite services for the parents of children in Carlow were previously provided by Tír na nÓg in Carlow. Since 2013, the services delivered by Holy Angels and Tír na nÓg came under the remit of the independent regulatory body, HIQA, regarding the standards of care being delivered. In December 2015, the Holy Angels Day Care Centre advised HIQA and the HSE of the decision of the board of management to close the centre from January 2016 after they had received notice from the landlord. On 16 December 2015, the HSE disability services manager wrote to the Holy Angels Day Care Centre requesting it to develop a plan regarding an alternative approach to respite service provision to be completed in consultation with families, notifying them of the discontinuation of the existing respite service. The families were also informed that they would be invited to meetings in January 2016 regarding respite services.

Tír na nÓg provided respite breaks to 42 children and their families with each client being offered a one to two night respite break every three months with the service open six nights per month. The children range from 18 months to 18 years and have a range of mild to severe disabilities. There are additional children on the waiting list. To address current respite provision requirements, as the Senator rightly said, in March 2016 an alternative respite provision was set up in partnership with the HSE and Holy Angels. This is currently being provided via Holy Angels in the Delta Centre as an interim arrangement. The service is to be reviewed in December 2016 and is committed to until February 2017. HSE estates are seeking to purchase or rent suitable accommodation for future service provision. Should the HSE find a suitable residence for respite in either County Carlow or County Kilkenny, services will be provided to families from both Carlow and Kilkenny from that location until purpose built accommodation is completed.

The long-term intention of the HSE is to develop a new purpose built respite service for County Carlow, but this must be considered in the context of overall priority requirements for capital spending within disability services. The €20 million capital funding available in 2016 has been prioritised for a number of large congregated residential centres which will not meet HIQA residential standards. The matter of providing overnight respite services to families of Carlow and Kilkenny is of key importance to the HSE. On 28 September 2016, the head of service social care, Carlow-Kilkenny, and other key personnel met with representatives from an external voluntary agency to consider a proposal to use its premises. Further meetings have since taken place with Carlow parents. A venue for respite service delivery has been agreed and is being finalised on a two-year lease. The respite tender document is currently being reviewed by the health business services, HBS, procurement department. A meeting was scheduled for 11 November 2016 with HBS procurement and disability services management to finalise the document. The tender process will be advertised in due course.

While I cannot give the Senator exact dates, I will bring it back to the relevant Minister and ask him to update her when the dates are made available.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. There is still confusion. Holy Angels is a great school in Carlow which is awaiting its new school build, which was committed to five years ago. I will follow it up in a future Commencement matter. I am very disappointed. A venue for respite service delivery has been agreed, but where is it? Can I return to the committee and tell the members where exactly it has been agreed to provide it and the timescale? Can the Minister of State give this to me? That is the question I am asking.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Unfortunately, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, cannot be here today and I have not received the answers and I will not say otherwise. I apologise on his behalf.What I will do is bring the Senator's comments to the Minister's attention. A venue has been agreed. The question is whether that information is in the public domain. I will bring the where, when and how to the Minister's attention and ask him to respond to the Senator directly.