Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House to discuss this matter. Áras Attracta is a residential respite day service for adults with intellectual disabilities in Mayo. The HSE directly manages Áras Attracta, which, as the Minister of State knows, works in partnership with other statutory and voluntary organisations to deliver intellectual disability services to the population of County Mayo. I will not go over the challenges that residents of Áras Attracta, their families and many of the staff have faced. I know there is a change plan in process. What I want to ascertain is the level of consultation that has taken place with residents, users of the day services and the families. I want to ensure that the services and supports that these users need are there now and guaranteed into the long term. I also want to ensure that the centre is kept within the remit of the HSE and that parts of it are not privatised out to organisations whose priority is profit maximisation. Furthermore, I want to ensure that the staff are protected within the system in order that their terms and conditions are also protected. As for the day users specifically, I want to ensure that the people and their families who have made life decisions to be near Áras Attracta - that is, buying their homes and settling there - will not now find that the service users will be moved to Ballina or other locations throughout the county. These are the assurances I seek from the Minister of State.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Conway-Walsh for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Finian McGrath.

This is a time of major change in the delivery of social care in this country, and the HSE has embarked on a transformation programme, Transforming Lives, which aims to put the citizen at the heart of everything we do. One of the central aims of this programme is to strive to ensure that every one of our citizens has an effective right, free from discrimination, to contribute to the economic, social and cultural life of our country and, in doing so, to achieve the best outcomes possible for themselves and their families. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has been very encouraged in recent years to see the number of organisations nationwide that are immersing themselves wholeheartedly in the transformation programme.

Traditional adult day services have, for the most part, been organised as segregated services, separate from local communities and offering limited options, experiences and choices. New Directions is one of the key policy documents contained in the HSE's Transforming Lives programme. It sets out an approach to day services that envisages all the supports available in communities that will be mobilised in order that people with disabilities have the widest choice and options as to how to live their lives and spend their time. New Directions sets out 12 supports that should be available to people with disabilities using day services. It proposes that day services should take the form of individualised outcome-focused supports to allow adults using those services to live lives of their choosing and in accordance with their own wishes, needs and aspirations. New Directions highlights three underlying principles which should underpin services - namely, person-centredness, community inclusion and active citizenship - in order to provide the best outcomes for individuals with a disability.

Áras Attracta day services are transitioning in line with New Directions policy. The HSE currently provides day services on site at Áras Attracta. However, this is not in keeping with the requirements of New Directions policy because it is located within a congregated setting. Day services at Áras Attracta will close at the end of 2018 and a service provider called Praxis has been appointed to provide the new day service under the New Directions policy from January 2019, based in Ballina. Provision has been made to accommodate all current service users attending Áras Attracta day services in this new day service or, if more appropriate to their needs, to another service model. Staff will be reassigned to other areas of service within Áras Attracta or Mayo Community Living.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The crux of the matter is that the geography of Mayo means that it is not acceptable to expect people to travel from one end of the county to the other to access day services. Furthermore, we do not know anything about the service provider, Praxis. Is this a privatising of the services? Will Praxis be based in Ballina? Will someone from Kiltimagh with special needs and intellectual challenges be expected to travel from Kiltimagh to, say, Ballina each day? I ask the Ministers of State, Deputies Jim Daly and Finian McGrath, to look at this situation, visit the area and get to know its geography to know that some of the challenges and barriers being put before service users and their families are not acceptable.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, could ask the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to make direct contract with the Senator.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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The geography of Mayo is a little like that of west Cork: it is sprawling and there are long distances involved.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Change always brings about challenges but also opportunities. I suggest that the Senator engage with HSE management locally, which is overseeing the minute detail of this and the individual issues the Senator raises. The local management would be quite happy to engage with her on the specific circumstances.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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I only wish to ensure that no one will be left behind.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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That is understandable, especially at this time of the year.