Gerard Murphy
Question:165 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will examine the review of core funding application for Charleville district associ ation for the handicapped, Charleville, County Cork. [23025/02]
Written Answers. - Services for People with Disabilities.
In addition to the development of new or enhanced service provision, my Department has been working with the health boards and voluntary service providers in recent years to meet specific identified needs in existing services. These primarily relate to the changing profile of the population in these services and in particular increased dependency levels due to ageing, medical frailty or challenging behaviour. The mechanism used is that following a review process, agreement is reached with the agency and the relevant health board in relation to the identified level of need. This is the process which has been followed in the case of the agency referred to by the Deputy. The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot, at this stage, comment on specific funding for any element of the health services in 2003 prior to the conclusion of the annual budget discussions.