Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 565: To ask the Minister for Health if he will guarantee that the services of an organisation (details supplied) will not be further threatened by cuts to its funding in budget 2012, in view of the fact that it had its funding cut by 6.85% over the past three budgets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34032/11]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive has advised me that expenditure on health services for people with a disability in 2011 will be approximately €1.5 billion. Special consideration was given to disability and mental health in Budget 2011 through a maximum reduction of just 1.8% in the allocation for the two sectors. The relatively lower reduction of 1.8%, compared to other areas of the health budget that saw reductions of up to 5%, recognises that these services are provided to vulnerable groups and should help to ensure that existing services are maintained and that priority is given to the delivery of frontline services.

I recognise and appreciate the valuable contribution that Prosper Fingal makes to the provision of services to individuals with intellectual disabilities in North Dublin through a range of community-based day, respite, and residential services on behalf of the Health Service Executive. The HSE has advised that Prosper Fingal will receive approximately €6.55 million in funding from them in 2011. Taking the reduction in the overall HSE disability budget for 2011 into account, the HSE was asked to manage the additional resources and engage with service providers including Prosper Fingal, to ensure that existing support needs, and demands for additional places and supports, are managed effectively within the overall allocation.

A major priority for the Government in the coming months will be to finalise the current Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services to ensure that existing funding for people with disabilities is spent to best effect. It is now more important than ever that large scale spending programmes of this nature are subject to detailed periodic review. The VFM Efficiency and Effectiveness Review will make recommendations that will ensure that the very substantial funding of €1.5 billion provided to the specialist disability health sector is used to maximum benefit for persons with disability, having regard to overall resource constraints which affect all sectors at this time.

Budget 2012

With regard to the level of funding for the Disability sector next year, this is being considered as part of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure and Estimates process for 2012 which is currently underway. Deliberations on the expenditure allocations for 2012 are likely to continue up until Budget time and it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage pending the outcome of those deliberations. As you are aware, the very difficult financial position facing the Exchequer will obviously require very careful management across all areas of expenditure.