Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 May 1993

Vol. 430 No. 2

Written Answers. - Residential Accommodation for Mentally Handicapped.

Peadar Clohessy

Question:

65 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Health the number of mentally handicapped people awaiting residential accommodation; the cost of providing this accommodation; and the plans, if any, he has to provide the needed accommodation.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

From information currently available within the various health board areas, it would appear that approximately 1,300 residential places are required to meet the needs of those awaiting services. What is not clear, however, from the information available to my Department is the proportion of those on waiting lists for residential care who require immediate placements and the level of care which they require, those who, with the provision of other services such as day care or home support services, may not immediately require residential placement and those who at some stage in the future will require residential care.

Agreement has recently been reached between my Department and the various statutory and voluntary agencies providing services to people with mental handicap on the adoption of an information system which will be set up in the various health board regions over the coming months. This system will provide information, on an ongoing basis, on the numbers of people with mental handicap in the various regions both in services and awaiting services, their current and future needs, and the levels of support which are required to meet those needs.

The availability of such information will enable my Department and those responsible for the provision of services to plan in a co-ordinated manner the services which will be required to meet both those current and future needs.

As the cost of the provision of residential accommodation can vary greatly according to the level of support and the type of accommodation required by individual clients, I am not in a position to give the Deputy details of the cost of such provision. However, the information system which I have already mentioned will provide data on an ongoing basis on the level of support required by each person on the registers and so will facilitate the provision of updated costings in relation to both current and future service needs.

The Programme for a Partnership Government includes a commitment to the provision of additional funding to enable the implementation of the recommendations of the Review Group on Mental Handicap Services —Needs and Abilities— to be accelerated. While I am satisfied that the additional funding of £8.5 million which has been made available by the Government for the development of services for people with mental handicap in 1993, on top of the £6 million made available last year and which is being repeated this year, will provide a real improvement in the services, I intend to build on this in future years.