Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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1574. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1048 of 16 July 2013, if he intends to provide funding for staffing resourcing in the next 12 months to enable the Health Service Executive reinstate the physiotherapy disability services for children over 5 years of age in north west Dublin. [38648/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, accountability for the management of services is a matter for the HSE to address within the ambit of its Vote (Vote 39). The level of health services to be delivered within the available funding for 2013 has been set out in the HSE National Service Plan for 2013, which I approved in January. The HSE will provide in the order of €1.5 billion in 2013 to fund health services for children and adults with disabilities, including autism. This represents approximately 11.5% of the €13.3 billion health budget for 2013. It should also be noted that while the HSE provides a range of services to adults and children with disabilities, the majority of this funding is distributed through non-statutory agencies who deliver over 80% of all disability services.

The Government has decided that the numbers employed across the public service must be reduced in order to meet its fiscal and budgetary targets. The health sector must make its contribution to that reduction. This policy requires the health service to reduce its workforce to 98,938 wholetime equivalent employees by the end of 2013. However, the HSE can make staff appointments once it remains within its overall employment ceiling and has the financial resources to do so.

The particular issue raised by the Deputy is a service matter for the Health Service Executive. Accordingly I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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1575. To ask the Minister for Health if he supports the Health Service Executive’s decision to further cuts to St. Michael’s House, Ballymun Road, Dublin 9 a service provider to persons with intellectual difficulties. [38649/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services, including disability services. The HSE either directly provides or contracts disability agencies such as St Michael House to provide a range of disability services through service level arrangements.

St Michael's House received over €70 million in 2012 in funding from the HSE to provide a range of services to approximately 1,660 children and adults with an intellectual disability in over 170 centres in the Greater Dublin Area and Navan Co. Meath.

The HSE and St Michael's House work in close collaboration with regard to the funding and delivery of services to people with an intellectual disability. As a voluntary agency, St Michael's house are obliged to work within the resources available to them and in that regard have introduced significant efficiencies over recent years to remain within budget. The HSE has advised that these changes to date have not resulted in service contraction.

The Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) sets out measures relating to productivity, cost extraction and reform which together intends to achieve a required pay bill reduction of €150m identified in the HSE Service Plan 2013. The agreement provides a framework and opportunities for managers within the health services, including agencies such as St Michael's House, to reduce their costs associated with agency and overtime and a wide range of other pay costs, particularly through measures such as additional working hours and revised rates in respect of overtime.

The HSE has advised the Department of Health that the recent application of additional budget cuts under the HRA has presented a significant challenge to St Michael's House. A process is now underway between the HSE and St Michael's House to identify the impact of these budget reductions on services. The Department of Health has received assurances from the HSE that both organisations are committed to working within the terms of the HRA to ensure that services are impacted upon only as a measure of last resort.