Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 15 Oct 1992

Vol. 423 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Clonmel (Tipperary) School Closure.

Mrs. T. Ahearn

I am delighted the Minister for Health is present in the House to respond to what I would term a simple request. The parents of mentally handicapped children in Clonmel are angry and totally disillusioned at the closure of the integrated pre-school which is run by the local Mental Handicap Association. This is due entirely to the inability of the South Eastern Health Board to provide adequate funding to keep the pre-school open.

This school has been in operation for the past ten years. However, due to the shortage of a mere £6,500, the sum necessary to pay its running cost for a full year, this school has been forced to close. The school caters for handicapped children in Clonmel, those who for various reasons are unable to attend the day care centre in Cashel some 15 miles away. Some children are either too young or, sadly, too ill to make that journey. The cost of running the school had increased from £2,000 to £6,000 due to the fact that the teacher who was in charge of the school and who was willing to take minimum wages has, unfortunately, left her position. It is now necessary to employ personnel who must be paid the standard wage. To date, the local Mental Handicap Association have provided £1,000 and the South Eastern Health Board have given a grant of £1,000. If the school is to reopen the Department of Health must provide a grant of £5,000 towards the running costs of the school.

It is a disgrace that there is no pre-school in Clonmel for children with special needs. Without such facility children born with disabilities are being denied the opportunities to progress. The cost involved in keeping the school open is not high and would represent money well spent. I can guarantee the Minister that no audit will be necessary to ensure that the money is well spent. The services for the mentally handicapped cannot and must not continue to be run on a shoestring. The pre-school can only be reopened when and if the necessary finance is made available by the Minister's Department. I ask the Minister to seriously consider my request. I have a report on one of the victims affected by the closure of this pre-school who, unfortunately, is too ill to make the journey to Cashel. The Department of Health would be making a kind gesture if they provided the £6,500 necessary to reopen the school. I can guarantee the Minister that a decision of that nature would be greatly welcomed not only by me and the people involved in the school but by all the people of South Tipperary who want to see the best facilities provided for the mentally handicapped.

I can say without hesitation that the Clonmel Mental Handicap Association are the most successful in the country. The services, facilities and resources had been provided for children in South Tipperary because of the fantastic success of the fund-raising of that association and the enormous amount of co-operation and hard work on the part of voluntary workers on that committee. Regrettably, they cannot see their resources going into providing the wages of personnel to reopen this school, and it is for that reason alone we make this appeal to the Minister for Health. If it were within our resources in South Tipperary certainly we would do so, but because there are so many other demands on the mentally handicapped association, they consider it necessary to make those a priority. We call on the Minister to resolve this problem for us.

Dr. O'Connell

I should like to inform Deputy Ahearn that the pre-school referred to was for children both with and without disabilities which was supported by both the County Tipperary Association and the South Eastern Health Board. The service was run on a 5-day-week basis between 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. and catered for six children, two of whom had disabilities. The teacher who was providing the service could not continue and an alternative teacher was sought. However, it emerged that the cost of employing a new person was going to be considerably more. Previously the service was costing £2,200 approximately per annum — as Deputy Ahearn said — to which the South Eastern Health Board contributed a grant of £1,000. The proposed service had an estimated cost of £6,000 per annum.

The County Tipperary Association could not fund the extra cost of the service. The health board did not have the funds available other than the funding made available for the development of new service in 1992. There was no further consultation with the health board about the closure of the pre-school. I understand that the health board are meeting with the County Tipperary Association on Friday next to discuss their funding for services.

I should say that the two children with disabilities have been successfully placed in other pre-school according to the information available in my Department.

Mrs. T. Ahearn

Placed but not adequately catered for.

Dr. O'Connell

I should like to assure the Deputy that the improvement of sevices for people with mental handicap is one of my main priorities. The Government have made available an additional £5 million revenue and £1 million capital this year for the development of those services. The South Eastern Health Board region have received the second largest allocation — after the Eastern region — in view of the special needs obtaining there which were made very clear to me and which prompted my increasing the amount being made available to the South Eastern Health Board.

As the Deputy is aware all new developments in the mental handicap services are agreed and implemented in line with the priorities identified by each regional mental handicap co-ordinating committee. The additional services being provided this year in the South Eastern region have been agreed by the regional mental handicap co-ordinating committee, on which the County Tipperary Association are represented, and approved by my Department.

The following services in South Tipperary have been agreed and are in the process of being put in place by the health board and voluntary organisations — six workshop places and up to five residential places by the Tipperary Community Workshop; eight activation places and eight residential places by the County Tipperary Association; eight residential places and one respite place by Camphill Communities. Grangemockler; increased services in the Cashel Day Care Centre. In addition the Camphill Communities will provide four residential places and three emergency places spread over their services in the South-Eastern region. The board also propose to increase their own paramedical staff to provide a more comprehensive service to pre-schools, day-care centres, residential centres, from which the overall services within the region should benefit.

I must point out to the Deputy that all of the additional funds available this year have been allocated. Further developments will depend on the funds made available to me in 1993 and future years for this purpose.

I hope the forthcoming discussions to which I referred will be successful. In view of what the Deputy has said, I will take another look at it. She can be assured that the recommendations of the report on disabilities will be implemented by Government over the seven-year period. What the Deputy has said is perfectly true, that it should receive top priority and be of great concern to Government.