Vol. 562 No. 3
192 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children if identified and agreed care funding deficits will be paid as outlined in his Department's document, Widening the Partnership; and when section 65 agencies, which are paid via the health board such as Co-Action West Cork, will receive such funding. [6043/03]
In addition to providing funding in recent years to put in place new service developments to meet identified needs in relation to residential, respite, day and other support services, funding has also been provided by my Department to meet identified needs in existing services. These needs arise as a result of the changing profile of persons with an intellectual disability or those with autism in the services, and in particular the residential services, which has resulted in an increasing number of older and medically fragile persons. They would also relate to issues such as underfunding of base budgets, including the need to consolidate elements of services previously funded from sources such as fund-raising. My Department has sought over the years to address these issues as resources have permitted. It was agreed that this process should continue, albeit through new more appropriate mechanisms, as outlined in the reports "Enhancing the Partnership", which dealt with the framework supporting the transfer of responsibility for the funding of former direct funded intellectual disability service providers from my Department to the health boards and "Widening the Partnership" which dealt with the application of that framework to voluntary intellectual disability service providers, such as Co-Action West Cork, funded by the health boards.
Between 1998 and 2002, additional funding amounting to €27.2 million has been allocated to services to persons with an intellectual disability and those with autism to meet identified needs in existing services. The overall economic position in 2003 has had implications for all aspects of public investment, and this is reflected in the Estimates and budget adopted by the Government for 2003. Within this overall framework, however, some two-thirds of the additional funding available for non-capital investment in services has been allocated to the health services. This funding is being applied largely to maintaining existing levels of service across all service programmes including services for people with an intellectual disability.
