25 Nov 2019, 17:17
Following its meeting on Thursday last with representatives of the Irish Wheelchair Association, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Dr Michael Harty T.D. has written to the Association asking that it defer the decision to permanently close the Cuisle holiday respite facility this week. Dr Harty has also written to the Minister for Health urging public bodies to engage in a full review of services for people with disabilities as this will ultimately decide the fate of the Cuisle facility in Roscommon.
Speaking today, Dr Harty stated: “The future of this service, which is so valued by many people with disabilities and their families, should not depend purely on the funding of remedial works. There is a need now to establish whether services at Cuisle can be continued and indeed enhanced given the talented and committed workforce in place and that is the reason the Joint Committee is calling for a full review involving all stakeholders. The centre would normally wind down operations there for the winter months anyway and this provides a window of opportunity to review its future and therefore the need to make all workers redundant this week should be revisited.
Dr Harty continued: “We need the IWA and the HSE in particular to work closely together over the coming weeks and months in order to establish the service requirements of people with disabilities and the extent to which these should continue to be provided at the Cuisle Centre in Roscommon.”