Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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695. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of providing an additional 130,000 personal assistant hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1442/16]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive is committed to protecting the level of Personal Assistant (PA) services available to people with disabilities. In their 2016 National Service Plan, the HSE's priority it to provide 1.3 million hours of personal assistance to more than 2,000 people with a disability. This is the same activity level that was funded in 2014 and 2015. The HSE has confirmed that in excess of €30 million is spent annually on the provision of PA Services. I have also arranged for the Deputy's question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for a more detailed response to be supplied directly to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.