Adjournment Debate - Community Services Funding - 6th March 2007

Adjournment Matters - Community Services Funding - 6th March 2007
An Leas-Chathaoirleach: I welcome the Minister
of State, Deputy Haughey, to the House and
call on Senator Norris to speak on his Adjournment
matter.
Mr. Norris: I also welcome the Minister of
State, Deputy Haughey, to the House. I am
particularly glad that he is in the Minister’s chair.
In the early days of my political career, I recall
listening to him as a young Deputy talking
passionately to a virtually empty Da´ il Chamber
about social conditions in his own constituency. I
think it was the area around Ballymun, although
I cannot remember. He knew the details of
people’s personal circumstances there and felt a
commitment towards improving them. I thought
that was the kind of politics in which I wanted to
be involved. I am grateful therefore that Deputy
Haughey is the Minister who is taking this
Adjournment matter.
Minister of State at the Department of Education
and Science (Mr. Haughey): I think it was
Darndale.
Mr. Norris: Darndale, yes, I remember that
very clearly.
In respect of this Adjournment matter, I must
declare a series of interests. I have raised it
because of some old friends of mine who may be
known to the Minister of State, at least by reputation.
I have asked their permission to mention
their names. They are George Morrison and his
wife Janet. George is one of our most distinguished
artists in film, having made films such
as “Mise E´ ire” and “Saoirse”. Like many artists,
he is not a money grubber. He has not always
had huge amounts of money but he has made a
comfortable and civilised home for himself in a
little by-way near Shankill. However, a short time
ago he suffered a bad stroke, which incapacitated
him to some degree. It means that he cannot
drive a car and neither can his wife who has also
been unwell. They would have been in difficulty
has it not been for a group called Choices, which
was founded by the sister-in-law of a lady with
whom I was in college. There are therefore all
kinds of connections here and Choices is run by
a remarkable group of people.
In case I overstay my time, I want to frontload
the demand now. We are seeking funding
amounting to \30,000 in order to put the existing
driver in the scheme on a full-time basis. The current
driver has been with them for three years.
The idea of the scheme is that people who are
incapacitated make use of the befriending service
and its driver in order to take them to the post
office, chiropodist, chiropractor, the chemist to
collect prescriptions or the library to exchange
books. Without such a service, elderly people
would be isolated, lonely and deprived.
This unique service has been running for 18
years and is largely dependent on community
employment schemes. As the Minister of State
knows, however, these schemes terminate after
three years. The current driver is coming to the
end of his period. He is known and loved by the
clients. It is so often necessary to ensure that elderly,
dependent people know and trust the person
who is dealing with them. The driver is reliable,
trustworthy and responsible. The service provided
to these people is totally free of charge. In
addition, State agencies already rely on this
service and, in turn, refer people to it. Although
the State is making use of it, the service receives
no core funding whatever. There are minor fundraising
events such as cake sales, and the service
occasionally receives grants from charitable
endowments. Over the last five years, the transport
service has been funded by people in need.
They must pay for diesel, maintain the people
carrier and they now want core funding to keep
the enterprise going.
The service started 15 years ago. In 1989, there
was an RTE programme on the problems of isolation
facing elderly people and the pressures
placed on them by society. As a result, a sisterin-
law of a friend of mine decided to get something
done, distributed leaflets to local shopping
centres and areas of housing where older people
lived and was amazed at the overwhelmingly
positive response.
The people involved indicated their priorities
and of utmost importance was addressing the
issue of loneliness. A lack of day-to-day company
and social contact left elderly people feeling isolated.
Transport was also an issue and the problems
of getting to and from the doctor, post
office, chiropodist, shops and the outpatients area
of hospital were mentioned. Such a service is not
only a practical necessity, it also provides a social
outlet that relieves depression, lets elderly people
meet others and even argue. The service also
helps in the collection of pensions and prescriptions.
After the initial phase, the befriending the elderly
service began. The group wisely and sensitively
decided not to go into competition with
existing local parish services such as those provided
by St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic church in
Crinken. Instead of walking roughshod all over
such services, they negotiated and sought to find
out how they could complement them.
Many long-established clients rely on the
service and it would be a great pity if they were
841 Community 6 March 2007. Services Funding 842
to be deprived of it. As I indicated, the value of
the service is evident in the fact that the group
receives some support, albeit sporadic, from
groups such as the FA´ S community employment
schemes, the County Dublin Vocational Educational
Committee and so on. At the moment,
more than 40 clients are on the befriending list,
and without the support of Choices Local
Enterprises and the befrienders, they would have
no way of accessing the kind of services and community
facilities they can with this team. The
clients have been enabled to maintain their ability
to live independently and we have often heard in
this House of the value of independent living to
people in wheelchairs and people with intellectual
disabilities.
The group provides a service for people who
are isolated, elderly, victims of stroke and debilitating
illnesses and so on, with no cost to the
client. There is support from community employment
schemes but such schemes terminate after
three years. The seven seater bus used for clients
was paid for through funding from People in
Need but everything else was paid for through
fundraising.
However, the group is on a very tight budget,
as is clear in the pathetic funding scheme I have
in my possession. The Christmas raffle raised
\596 and clients’ donations raised \45: the
widow’s mite. Car cleaning is listed here as earning
\247.41, so some volunteers must have performed
a bob-a-job style fundraiser like the scouts.
I do not know what the Catherine Howard
Foundation is but it is obviously a charitable
group and it provided \1,500. A printing and secretarial
service came to \257 and the group ran a
bingo night that came to almost \1,000. Expenses
included petrol, bingo shopping, van maintenance
and a Christmas party for clients that cost less
than \500. Who could possibly begrudge them
that little bit of fun and entertainment? I know
the Minister of State would not.
After all this, Choices Local Enterprises ended
up \18.08 in the red. I believe the Minister of
State will understand what a significant function
is played by this admirable group and I hope he
will indicate a method whereby the State can
assist in ensuring the service continues.
It is remarkable that an artist of the calibre and
standing of George Morrison, who has given so
much service to this State, should have found it
necessary to approach me regarding this issue. He
said he and Janet were in difficult circumstances
and could not have survived without this group.
If this service is not continued, 40 clients will go
without and a number may then need to be taken
into State-funded care facilities. Although it may
be unwarranted, many elderly people are terrified
at going into such facilities involuntarily owing to
recent publicity on television programmes. Such
a scenario would also cause a significant charge
to the State so it would be both a good day’s work
and a good investment to find a way to provide
some assistance to this wonderful group.
Mr. Haughey: I will be taking this Adjournment
matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister
for Health and Children, Deputy Harney,
and I thank Senator Norris for raising this issue.
It provides me with an opportunity to reaffirm
the Government’s commitment to services for
older people and explain the current position
regarding funding for Choices Local Enterprises.
The development of services for older people
is a priority for this Government. This is reflected
in the funding committed to services for older
people in the budgets of 2006 and 2007. Last year,
the Government funded the largest ever expansion
in services for older people with a full-year
cost of \150 million, and this year, a full-year
package of \255 million has been allocated for
services for older people. This gives a total of
more than \400 million added to services for
older people over two years.
Government policy on older people is to support
them to live in dignity and independence in
their homes and communities for as long as possible
and, where this is not possible, to support
access to quality long-term residential care. This
policy approach is renewed and developed in the
latest partnership agreement, Towards 2016.
As the Senator is aware, the Health Act 2004
gave the Health Service Executive, HSE,
responsibility for the management and delivery of
health and personal social services. As a corporate
body, the provision of these services, including
the delivery of services by agreement with
voluntary and community organisations, is a
matter for the HSE.
Funding for health services has been provided
as part of the HSE’s overall Vote for health and
personal social services in 2007. The allocation of
resources is a matter for the HSE in accordance
with the overall priorities for specific services as
set out in its service plan. The HSE is more than
happy to meet Choices Local Enterprises to discuss
the services it provides and it has advised
that two appointments were made for this discussion
but, unfortunately, on both occasions
these meetings were cancelled. However,
renewed efforts are being made to organise a
meeting that is convenient to the organisation.
I understand that Choices Local Enterprises is
also considering applying to the HSE for lottery
funding. It is aware that its application should be
submitted by Friday, 16 March 2007.
The Department of Health and Children also
provides funding to voluntary organisations
under a national lottery funded grant scheme.
This funding is discretionary, and if Choices
Local Enterprises wishes to make an application
for funding, it should contact the finance unit of
the Department of Health and Children.
A meeting will be arranged with the HSE and
there are possible sources of funding for the
group, including lottery funding from the HSE
and the Department of Health and Children. I
again thank the Senator for raising this matter
and hope it can be resolved.
843 Special 6 March 2007. Educational Needs 844
Mr. Norris: I thank the Minister of State for his
reply and was not aware of the cancelled meetings
nor the reasons for the cancellations. I will
encourage the group to take up this opportunity
for a meeting and will suggest it makes applications,
which should include this debate from
the Official Report of the House, to both sources.
This will be intended as an encouragement to
State agencies to assist in this valiant enterprise.