Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that there are no funding cuts to St. Michael's House, in order to reduce the harsh impact on services such as residential and respite care. [39921/13]

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.