On a different matter, I welcome the Taoiseach's announcement the other day on Lough Funshinagh. An Bord Pleanála will get the application before Friday. I know it is three weeks late and I hope it can be expedited. I welcome it.

This evening, we will debate the Apple tax and we are talking about fair sums of money in the budget. Money does not solve every problem. In late 2022, I met Kevin and Seán, a father and son. Seán is severely autistic and non-verbal. Unfortunately, he sleeps only for short intervals. He goes out to the kitchen and he could wreck the house or go out and wreck the car. The father has other younger children who, unfortunately, have encountered difficult situations with their sibling. It is not Seán's fault.

We engaged the services and went through all the processes with the HSE. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach's colleague, the former Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and the leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Micheál Martin, twice in the last two years. We had numerous meetings with the HSE and the Brothers of Charity at which we were promised the sun, moon and stars.

Ironically, this is not about money. I remember we were promised respite, which was provided for a while and then disappeared. Seán was tried out in a new place to see how he would go but unfortunately, because of his situation, he put his hand through a window. The operators, because they are private operators, just said they did not want it.

We were promised that the minute Seán turned 18 years and became an adult, in July, he would have a place because there was no place before that. We have had meetings with the Brothers of Charity and the HSE since January. In January, in fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and a person in the west of Ireland who is over this and whom I will not name because the person is a civil servant, the money was granted for this by the HSE. We had three meetings with the Brothers of Charity at which we talked about houses in three places. The Brothers of Charity told us they had to get the houses ready and we said that was fine. We asked them to stick with us and they said they would. This continued from February or March. When July came and Seán became an adult, the Brothers of Charity said the houses were not ready yet. They said they had to decide on a house, which would take a few more months and be gradual. We then had a bomb thrown at us when the Brothers of Charity chief wrote to the father to say they were sending the money back to the HSE and were no longer going to provide this service.

I am not criticising the person who granted the money. The money was granted by the HSE. What is going on in the charitable sectors for people with disabilities is pathetic. The way in which that youngster has been treated is pathetic. His father had to bring him to the accident and emergency unit in Galway on Monday. The psychiatric unit in Roscommon hospital would not take him. The house has been absolutely wrecked in recent days.

Thank you, Deputy.

The hospital in Galway said to bring him home because it did not have a bed. Is that the Ireland we have for treating people with disabilities? Are we going to change it and tell people they have a job to do and they must deliver? This is not about money; it is about delivery. It is scandalous what that father has gone through.

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for raising this important matter. First, in relation to Lough Funshinagh, I thank him for the constructive engagement he has had with the Government on the matter. I am pleased Roscommon County Council intends to submit a planning application to An Bord Pleanála this week. I have been in the homes of the people impacted. The fear they are living with is quite horrific. I am conscious winter is coming. We will all continue to work together closely on the issue. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and Roscommon County Council for their work on this matter.

The Deputy raised a very serious issue in relation to Seán. I ask that we talk further about it afterwards. While I have a long note I can read out about all the extra investment we are making in disability services and I appreciate the excellent work being done in this area by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, which the Deputy acknowledged, in many ways the story the Deputy told hits the nail on the head. Regardless of money or investment, young people, and not-so-young people, are getting lost trying to navigate a system which seems to be centred around everyone other than the person with the disability. That is why we have set up a new Cabinet committee on disability and why I am chairing it. It is why we are trying to bring everyone around the table to see that, when we make decisions in relation to investment, it goes where we expect it to go to improve service delivery. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is passionate about that.

We are significantly increasing the money we are putting into disability services year on year, as we should. We are giving the go-ahead to increase staff year on year. We are talking more and more to organisations about what we can do. We are trying to rectify issues that section 39 disability organisations have, including increased pay to staff, which is an issue on which they have been campaigning for ages. We have taken measures as a Government to address an 8% increase. We still hear of cases like Seán's where, despite an allocation by Government to help support him, he finds himself without a service.

The best thing I can do is ask the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to engage directly with Deputy Fitzmaurice on Seán's case, as I will too. The reason he is highlighting it is not just to advocate for Seán but also to highlight a broader issue in terms of the level of reform that we need to drive and will drive in return for increased investment. We are not just going to be able to keep writing cheques without asking what impactful difference this will make to the lives of people with a disability.

The problem appears to be that if a case is a difficult one, the provider can decide that it is too much hassle and throw the money back. That is what is going on. People need to start being responsible for the jobs they have at hand. The facts at the moment are that if someone is under 18 years of age there is really no place to go. We tried everything for that youngster. It is such a sad story. When that youngster became an adult, one of the choices that is facing parents at the moment is that they go to an accident and emergency department, drop their child off and disown them. That is an awful thing to have to say, to try to get residential care. Alternatively, parents go to the Four Courts, down the road. Those are the two choices parents have at the moment. I see so many parents. In this instance, there is an intellectual disability. Some people need help. Parents have looked after their youngsters for many years. They have grown older. They are worried before they pass on that there would be some place to look after their children. At the moment, we have no place in this country to help those people. I have liaised with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. This is not about her or the person in the HSE in the west of Ireland. This is about a charity that is getting a lot of taxpayers' money that is not prepared to do the graft. It has told us blatant lies and now it has said that it will throw back the money and it will leave us high and dry. That is not acceptable.

I can hear the passion in the Deputy's voice about the situation he is working his way through. I think it highlights a broader issue about how we empower the person with a disability and their family in terms of the budget that the State allocates to them. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and others have done work in relation to this. Rather than just funding the charity or the service provider, the model of funding the individual with a personalised budget has been transformative in some areas, where we say to the young or not-so-young person or their family that the State is funding them and they are now empowered, rather than giving it to charity X or charity Y. Let us look further at what more we can do in relation to that model. Obviously there are residential places available and I do say that to parents, following this today. We have allocated more money this year, €15.5 million, for an additional 100 priority 1 residential placements nationally. The Deputy is quite right to highlight the issue. The demographic pressures are real in relation to this. We had a very good round-table discussion recently which involved me, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and all disability organisations and many disability representative groups in advance of budget 2025. We will reflect on the Deputy's comments and liaise directly with him on Seán.