Disability service on financial life support

Around 3,000 vulnerable people with disabilities, including 200 children, rely on the services of RehabCare but it no longer has the money to keep operating, writes Mo Flynn.

The future of vital and often life-changing care services for 3,000 vulnerable people with disabilities, including almost 200 children, this week hang in the balance.

Besieged by chronic underfunding, Rehab Group, the largest provider of care services for people with disabilities in Ireland, was forced to tell its funder, the HSE, that unless it receives an urgent injection of cash it has no choice but to cease providing all care within 12 months.