Families ‘will collapse’ if charity forced to cut services

FAMILIES with brain-damaged children will collapse if a cash-starved charity is forced to cut its support services by 30% next year, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The Jack and Jill Foundation, which helps families care for sick children in their own homes, said it needs an immediate injection of €1.35 million to save the state €15m in long-term hospital costs.

Jack and Jill’s founder, Jonathan Irwin, yesterday told the Joint Committee on Health and Children that the cuts in its services would be “brutal”.