Funding available for respite services for families of children with disabilities, Tánaiste vows

Micheál Martin said there are issues with staff recruitment but other options will be explored to ensure services are reinstated

Micheál Martin said the Government is working with the HSE to make sure it can achieve staffing. Picture: Dan Linehan

Funding is not an issue when it comes to providing respite services for families of children with disabilities in Cork, the Tánaiste has told the Dáil.

Micheál Martin said there are issues around the recruitment of staff, but promised that other options will be explored to make sure services are reinstated.

Mr Martin was responding to calls to reopen 10 respite beds to provide families who are at "breaking point" with some level of relief and support.

Raising the case of Anne Cunneen from Upper Glanmire in Cork and her son Liam, aged 16, Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said families are being put the the pin of their collar because they cannot access overnight respite services.

"For parents and caregivers across the State, be they in Donegal, Wexford, or the Tánaiste's county of Cork, these respite services are not a luxury. They are critical," said Mr Doherty.

"They often provide the only opportunity for these families to attend a family wedding or the funeral of a loved one, or to simply recharge.

The disruption caused by respite services being withdrawn, cancelled, or closed cannot be overstated and it is happening on the Tánaiste's watch.

Mr Martin said he had spoken to parents of children attending Carrigaline Community Special School and the Government is now working with the HSE to make sure it can achieve the staffing capacity required to open the 10 beds.

Micheál Martin said he had spoken to parents of children at Carrigaline Community Special School and 'capital is there' to provide additional respite facilities for children. Picture: Jim Coughlan

"The capital is there and will be there to provide additional respite facilities for children in addition to therapies," he said. "Other forms of provision will be utilised to attend to and provide for the needs of children with special needs."

He told the Dáil: "The focus of the HSE and the providers is to do everything possible to recruit staff and provide a service that is without discrimination in respect of whatever school a child attends, in terms of respite in particular and in terms of other services with regard to physiotherapy, speech and language, and neurorehabilitation that children may also require."