Disability funding delay
Deputy Murnane O'Connor said a Carlow disability service still had not received promised funding and raised wider questions about a €100 million budget allocation. The Minister said he would ask officials to get a specific response on the centre's funding.
The Minister will have to come back to me with an answer on this issue, which concerns disability. I know of a disability service in Carlow that was promised funding in November and it still has not received it this week. As the money to pay staff is going to run out shortly, funding is imperative and we need to find out where that funding is. I also ask the Minister to check where is the €100 million that was announced in budget 2023 to support community-based service providers in the provision of health services across the country. I know of a care home that is waiting on this money. I understand there are a number of issues with the HSE that it has to address with the Department. The CHO is telling me that it has not been allocated the money, the service is telling me it has not received any word and the Department is telling me at all times that the money is coming, but it is not. We need to make sure that the funding is there for the services. I am hearing all of the time that it is about recruitment and that we need more recruitment. We have to both look after the services that are there and recruit.
Comment on this
As the Deputy suggests, I will have to ask the officials to ask the Department to come back on the specific issue of where the funding for that centre is.