Vol. 481 No. 3
33 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make the necessary funds available for an independent living fund to enable the existing personal assistant scheme to be operated on a permanent and more systematic basis. [15775/97]
Personal assistance services are provided by the Irish Wheelchair Association, funded by the Eastern Health Board and by the Centre for Independent Living through the use of FÁS trainees under the community employment scheme. The FÁS scheme, which is designed to meet the needs of the long-term unemployed, is not perfectly suited to the needs of a personal assistance service for people with disabilities. However, any change in this scheme would be a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The Review Group on Health and Personal Social Services for People with Physical and Sensory Disabilities in its report, Towards an Independent Future, which was published last December, set out the requirements for the development, inter alia, of personal assistance services. On foot of the report, an additional £3.688 million was provided this year, of which £226,000 was allocated to personal assistance services. The further development of the services will be considered in the light of the resources which may be made available to my Department in 1998.
An advisory group on personal assistance services set up by one of my predecessors explored the option of establishing an independent living fund as a means of funding personal assistance services for people with disabilities but considered that it would be too cumbersome to administer.
