I will be brief. I hope the Minister of State will be able to answer my questions about the assessment of needs for children with disabilities in the Dublin Mid-West constituency. This is a crisis of our time, in some ways. The position in my locality is mirrored across the State, where there are huge waiting times for children to be assessed. Given that early intervention is of key importance, why are children having to wait so long?
Topical Issue Debate
Services for People with Disabilities
I thank the Deputy for raising this extremely important issue. The Minister of State with responsibility for this area, Deputy Finian McGrath, sends his apologies. I am pleased to take this opportunity to update Deputy Kenny and the House on the progress that is being made in developing services for children with disabilities and on the current position regarding waiting times for assessments of need.
As the Deputy has pointed out, waiting times are far too long in some instances. The HSE recognises that early intervention services and services for school-age children with disabilities need to be improved and organised more effectively. To this end, a major reconfiguration of therapy resources for children with disabilities up to the age of 18 is under way. This national programme, Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People, involves bringing staff from different service providers together into network teams. The aim of the programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery. It provides for a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services regardless of where they live, what school they attend or the nature of their difficulties. It places a stronger emphasis on the health and education sectors working more closely together to support children with special needs to achieve their potential. The implementation of the programme is taking place on a phased basis in consultation with stakeholders, including service users and their families. It is a key priority in the HSE's service plan. It is estimated that by the end of the year, 76 of the 129 teams will be reconfigured. Under the Disability Act 2005, a child can request an assessment of need. Since the Act commenced, the number of requests for assessments appears to vary across the country. The level of requests is higher in areas where the reconfiguration of children's disability services has yet to take place. This would suggest that where a good service is being provided, the need for assessments is reduced.
The HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in meeting the statutory timeframes that apply to the assessment of need process. It is aware that there is a significant backlog in carrying out assessments of need in Deputy Kenny's constituency of Dublin Mid-West. This is due to a number of vacancies in key roles. I am pleased to report that the recruitment process to fill these posts has been completed and successful candidates will take up these roles in the coming weeks.
The current programme for Government commits the Government to improving services and increasing supports for people with disabilities, particularly for early assessment and intervention for children with special needs. Significant resources have been invested by the health sector in services for children with disabilities over recent years. As the Deputy will be aware, health-related therapy supports and interventions for children are provided through the HSE's primary care services and its specialist disability services, depending on the level of the child's need.
In 2013, additional funding of €20 million was allocated to strengthen primary care services and support the recruitment of over 260 prioritised front-line primary care posts, including 52 occupational therapists and 52 speech and language therapists. In 2016, funding of €4 million was provided under the HSE's national service plan to focus specifically on speech and language therapy waiting lists in primary care services and social care for children up to the age of 18. This investment represents a long-term increase in speech and language capacity that will be maintained into next year. Arising from budget 2017, the HSE is looking at how extra funds provided for disability services will be allocated. In particular, it will be asked to build on previous investments in therapeutic supports. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will outline in greater detail how that money will be spent in line with the service plan after that plan has been approved.
I think we have a problem because waiting times are so long that they contravene the Disability Act 2005. Essentially, this means children are waiting for services for more than six months. The State is breaking its own law. This has serious implications for the State and for the children who are not being seen. There is a possibility that families will bring the State to court because their children are not being seen on time. The statistics are quite incredible. Many children have been waiting for these services for up to 18 months. Approximately 2,000 children under the age of five are waiting for occupational therapy services. Some 20,000 children are waiting to see speech and language therapists. According to Inclusion Ireland, the speech and language services one receives are greatly influenced by where one lives. There are 162 children for every therapist in Ireland at the moment. It is recommended that there should be a therapist for every 30 to 65 children.
Major questions arise when children and their families get assessments of need, but the bigger question is the waiting time for occupational therapy services, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. In this day and age, nobody should be waiting more than six months, but that is happening in Dublin Mid-West and across the country. There are huge waiting times of over 18 months in Cork, for example. It is not acceptable, especially in a year when we are marking the 100th anniversary of 1916. The Proclamation refers to "cherishing all the children of the nation", but at this moment in time the State is not cherishing its children. It is actually failing them. That has serious and profound consequences for families and for the State. I have to say it is a shame that this country cannot provide crucial early intervention services to children in their time of need.
I agree with the Deputy that we need to focus on the requirements and needs of the child. There has been no clear pathway up until now. We have had a disjointed pathway. I hope we will start to see a new process as part of the reconfiguration of services. These issues will not be resolved without co-operation between the Departments of Health, Education and Skills and Children and Youth Affairs. Obviously, resources are being reconfigured.
As I have mentioned, we have started to see improvements in the 76 teams, of the total of 129 teams, which have already been reconfigured. That process needs to be hastened so that improvements are made as quickly as possible. We know that the earlier we identify the needs of a child or young person, the easier it is to fulfil that process. That requires staff, teams and the filling of posts. That needs to be a priority. As I have said, vacancies have been filled in Deputy Kenny's area of Dublin Mid-West. However, there are still many such vacancies throughout the country. This needs to be a priority. I will take the Deputy's remarks back to the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. I am sure he will outline in due course where he intends to spend his additional funding within the service plan.
Sport and Recreational Development
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter, which deserves attention within the Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Health, for discussion. It relates to the proposed Lusk community 2020 sports plan. This is a community-based collaborative effort involving representatives of local sporting groups and the support of local primary and secondary schools in Lusk, north County Dublin, to put in place a long-term plan the objective of which is to improve the health of members of the local community. In essence, this is a local public health strategy focused on sport and physical activity that will benefit everyone in the town and its environs.
In coming together, local sports organisations, the community council and schools have worked to develop a strategy by which they can prioritise their needs and pool their resources to ensure the maximum impact and benefit in the community. The initiative is ambitious. The approach examines the demographics of the local community and carries out a sporting needs analysis or assessment. By taking demographics into account on a localised basis, the project allows for a focus to be placed upon increasing participation in sport and physical activity in line with population growth and the demographic characteristics of Lusk and its environs.
Fingal is the fastest-growing local community according to the past three censuses and has the youngest age demographic in the State. The approach outlined in the plan could have remarkable benefits for towns and villages throughout the country. It could allow for the identification and prioritisation of sporting infrastructure and investment to meet the needs of residents, while ensuring that resources are provided to allow all age groups to engage in sport and physical activity. In the case of Lusk, the sport needs analysis has allowed for the identification of priority sporting facilities required to serve the needs of the people in the town and surrounding communities. Once developed, these facilities will be available for other local sporting clubs and organisations as well.
The project has received a great deal of support from Fingal County Council. The local authority will be transferring land to Lusk 2020 for the development of a sports hub in the community. This will be an important advancement of the overall strategy. While it is positive to see the local authority supporting Lusk 2020, I believe there is also an opportunity for the Government to assist the local community in achieving the goals set out in the plan. I call on the Minister of State to review the documents relating to Lusk 2020. I would be more than happy to supply these to him. Furthermore, I call on the Minister of State to examine the investment opportunities which may be open to Lusk 2020 and how the Government can best assist those involved to realise their objective of promoting the uptake of sport and physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle for members of the local community of all ages. I imagine that, upon examination, the Minister of State will identify the innovative nature of Lusk 2020 and how it can provide a template upon which similar strategies could be developed for local communities throughout the State. The Lusk 2020 plan is a prime example of people in local communities putting the needs and the health of the entire community to the fore of the agenda.
I am pleased to support Lusk 2020 and I commend all those involved in bringing the project this far. Most importantly, I am keen to mention by name a former councillor, John Paul Browne, who recently resigned from Fingal County Council to pursue other ventures. In any event, his work on this project, along with that of dozens of other people in my constituency, was excellent. I hope the Minister of State will assess this project with a view to the potential collaboration or use of this programme as a template throughout the State.
I apologise for being late. I had understood my issue was the third to be taken. I apologise to the Ceann Comhairle for delaying the proceedings.
On my behalf and on that of the officials in my Department, I wish to extend my sympathy to my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, on the passing of his mother, Ruth Isabel Ross. This is the first opportunity I have had to say as much in the House. As the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I wish to formally extend my sympathies to the family of Anthony Foley on his passing. Go ndéana Dia trócaire orthu.
I welcome the opportunity to respond to Deputy Farrell's topical issue on Lusk 2020. In recent years, there has been a certain level of engagement between sports partnerships, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and local communities. This is something we are trying to continue, build on and develop. I compliment Fingal County Council on the manner in which it has embraced this process in recent years through initiatives undertaken by the council as well as with local sports partnerships throughout the country.
There is an important aspect to this from the point of view of the Dáil and the Oireachtas in general. Many Members will be keen to ensure that projects are included in the sports capital programme for 2017 and they have been pressing me on the matter. I will be announcing details shortly in this regard. Deputy Farrell is correct about the importance of the sports capital programme and the investment that can be achieved through working with local initiatives such as the project in Lusk. A bottom-up approach is far more palatable and desirable than asking Sport Ireland or the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to do everything. Local initiatives and partnership-based models are the way to go. Only last week I launched a report at the sports campus in Abbotstown on the effectiveness of the sports partnership model. There are opportunities for local communities throughout the country to engage more with their local authorities as well as for local authorities to do more. Some local authorities are exemplary in this regard and really engage with their local communities when it comes to providing a holistic plan and developing a strategy.
Deputy Farrell asked me to examine documentation for Lusk 2020. I would welcome the opportunity to receive the information in the Department and review it. In recent years, a good deal of money has been allocated to local sports partnerships. In the past year in excess of €5 million was allocated by my Department to sports partnerships. This is not an insignificant amount and we are keen to ensure we get the best result from it. Since 2011 we have had three different allocations of sports capital. This has resulted in significant investments being made outside of the main capital programme, which we also hope to revise in 2017. Using this mechanism, I will be seeking significant investment in major infrastructure of a sporting nature at national and regional level. I agree with the remarks of Deputy Farrell in this regard. There is also an opportunity for organisations to work collaboratively with the local authorities. Local authorities that are reflective of their local communities in developing these projects have been far more successful. I am keen to empower, encourage and stretch sports partnerships to deliver even more in their local areas. An opportunity exists in this regard and this example may well prove to be exemplary to other areas in the country as a model to study and emulate. I am keen to see what Lusk 2020 is proposing and I welcome the opportunity of bringing the documentation before the Department.
I very much welcome what the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, has had to say. I imagine the community-based activists involved in this programme will be thrilled to hear his encouraging remarks. The material was written up and prepared well in advance of the budget and was not contingent on it. Regardless, the sports capital grant announcement from the Minister of State is most welcome.
We are very pleased nationwide, and particularly in some of the clubs in my constituency that might have missed out in the past. This is almost a regional idea because the environs of the community of Lusk are significant, including towns such as Rush and Skerries. A plan to build a soccer stadium in Lusk in the mid-noughties, which would have been of great benefit to the community, unfortunately fell by the wayside. Programmes to encourage young people to involve themselves in sporting activities and keep up reasonable fitness levels are very important at a time when unfortunately young people after college or university tend to drop out of sport at an incredible rate. If a facility or facilities are provided, they encourage people to get involved.
Significant sums of money have been allocated by the Department of Education and Skills to a brand new secondary school in Lusk in the past week and a new primary school in the nearby community of Rush. The culmination of the Lusk 2020 scheme and the Minister of State’s proposals to consider this and to roll out funding through the sports capital grants and the regional grants provide great opportunities for us to use this as a template nationwide and I would certainly encourage that.
In every community there are challenges. The challenges in Lusk might relate to the size of the community but in rural areas very small communities find it difficult to bring forward the amount of assistance required to make up the 15% that is needed in many cases for the grant aid to be drawn down. The Ceann Comhairle and other Deputies are aware that a tightly knit community might have very difficult hurdles to jump in coming up with the initial seed capital whereas the communities Deputy Farrell refers to, the enormous sprawling urban communities, have a different challenge which in the first instance involves building the community and bringing people together. That is where I see the sports partnership as critical. The leadership provided within the local authority and the sports partnerships plays an important role in that because much of the work Deputy Farrell refers to involves building community and the capacity to enable communities to apply for funding, whether through their Leader company or through the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the national lottery or whatever.
The Deputy is right about participation and I have made clear since my appointment as Minister of State in this Department that my primary concern is not in respect of large edifices or Ceaucescu-like monuments as someone once described them, but facilities to encourage people to participate at whatever level suits them, regardless of their ability and of their stage in life, whether young or not so young. In developing this programme, it is important that I maximise the amount of money we can spend and the impact. I welcome any opportunity to review any documents from any part of the country in this regard.
Local Authority Funding
I thank the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for taking the time to come here today. I know he has agreed to meet four Deputies on this issue but I wanted to table this very important issue. The last time we discussed this issue, the Minister said other level V counties have similar numbers of staff and seem to do a better job with the resources given to them. I need to put some matters in context. Very significant progress has been made regarding the financial difficulties in Sligo County Council. There has been a 37% reduction in the number of staff, and the total now stands at 374. Among the other level V counties, Roscommon has 393, Monaghan has 385 and Laois has 384 - all more than Sligo - but none has a port or harbour to deal with, or a regeneration programme. Eight staff are involved in the Cranmore regeneration programme, and two more in the harbours. Sligo has the highest social mix in the country after Cork and Limerick. There are 2.5,000 council houses, well above the other level V counties. That requires additional administration, engineering staff and outdoor maintenance staff. The urban area in Sligo is significantly larger than in the other level V counties. The Minister says the other counties are doing a better job than Sligo despite the fact that Sligo has fewer staff and a much bigger burden of work.
The discretionary spend for Sligo County Council is €2.6 million, that is, around 4%, down from some 7% or 8% in 2008 when times were better. The surplus that will be shown this year by Sligo County Council as it strives to recover from past difficulties and its €25 million deficit is €1.6 million. That is a truly remarkable outcome from the efforts of people locally, the new council, elected representatives and the executive, with a cut of 36% in staff to well below other level V counties that do not have the same burdens. The financial plan for next year has been thrown at us in a way that reminds me of the behaviour of the troika, Brussels and the ECB as revealed in the rhetoric of Jean Claude Trichet in the farce where he came to give evidence in Dublin Castle to the banking inquiry. Department officials tell us we agreed with this plan when in reality, in August 2015, the Department prescribed the level of cuts and the surplus of €1.6 million, which is being met. Next year, that is to be €3.6 million. The Department wants Sligo County Council to have a surplus next year of 140% of its discretionary spend.
Discretionary spend is the meat and potatoes in terms of what people expect from councils. I refer to housing maintenance, local roads lighting and road safety, public conveniences, tourist development contributions, heritage issues, match funding, environmental campaigns, life-saving, beach maintenance, library books, the arts and grants. In terms of what our meeting will be about next week, which I want to put on record here today, the surplus target of €3.6 million, or 140% of the discretionary fund, is unachievable. It cannot and will not be achieved, notwithstanding the six additional staff sanctioned for the library services that were kept open, for which I thank the Minister. There are other measures coming down the track, so we will be continually fighting fires. The reality is that with all the cuts we have already made, we will struggle to meet a surplus target next year of €1.6 million. To put a surplus target of €3.6 million on it is an impossibility.
I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to respond on this issue again. As he said, we will have an opportunity to discuss it next Thursday when we will meet to discuss these issues. I want to put on record a number of points. Nobody disputes that the financial challenges Sligo County Council faces are significant. That is the reason there is a financial plan in place to help Sligo County Council get back on an even keel from a financial management perspective.
The current chief executive of the local authority has done a very good job in many ways in terms of trying to achieve many of the targets that have been set. If we consider the improved position in terms of rates collection, for example, what has been done in terms of reducing staff numbers, maintaining output, services and so on. However, it is important to say that Sligo is the only county in the country that has a financial plan of this type whereby there is an agreement by the Department that if certain targets which have been signed up to by the local authority are met, my Department would sanction an extra €1 million to support the council in terms of the financial difficulties it faces. Clearly, that was not enough this year.
The chief executive wrote to me and then subsequently met me, along with the cathaoirleach of the council. We went through that letter and as far as I know, everything that was asked for in terms of flexibility, has now been given. That is an extra six staff for library services plus the money to pay them rather than simply sanctioning increased staff numbers as is the case for most other local authorities when they get extra staff, and other considerable flexibilities in terms of meeting some payment schedules next year rather than this year.
We continue to work with the chief executive and Sligo County Council on trying to meet and, when necessary, amend the financial management plan that is in place to try to help Sligo County Council get back to a situation where the financial management is sustainable again. What is being asked for here is that we start the process of negotiating a new financial plan when we only signed off on this one less than 12 months ago. What I am saying is that the basis for us will be the current plan but we want to work with management and we have been willing to show flexibility and provide extra supports to help Sligo County Council move through the process of getting back to a sustainable financial position. It is a difficult journey, and I am not pretending it is not.
I believe the chief executive has done a good job since he came in. He inherited a very difficult situation and much progress has been made in the first year since that plan was agreed last December. However, while we are making that progress, which has been difficult, I do not believe it is advisable to simply bin it and start again. Instead, we should work with that plan. We have already recalculated and reset some of the targets, given the changes and the accommodation that we have given on request from the management. There is a big onus on the management team to respond. Ultimately, it is their responsibility to manage the finances of the council. We are here to help in that. We are doing that at the moment, and have shown a good deal of flexibility in that endeavour, but the idea that we should simply tear up and start again will create many other problems.
The point being missed is that there is no problem. The council has done an exceptional job in following the plan heretofore to the best of its ability. It is time the Minister was prepared to admit, as assistant secretary Lemass was prepared to admit, that the Department prescribed surpluses of €12. 5 million to be delivered by 2019. I am telling the Minister that that is not possible against the backdrop of all the cuts already done. In terms of what they can do, they are out-performing in many ways. It is not reasonable for the Minister to say, "You agreed this so get on with it, like the ECB did. Live horse and get grass. If you cannot afford the services for the people, that is your problem." No, it is not our problem. The people are sovereign in a republic. The people of Cork and the people of Sligo are no different, and we have a responsibility to provide for them. A surplus target of €12.2 million is too much. A surplus target of €3.6 million next year is too much. It cannot and will not be achieved. The Department prescribed those savings, albeit that Sligo County Council ultimately agreed to them under duress, and when it does not meet that €3.6 million surplus target next year the Department will pull that €1 million back because that is what the Minister said he will do.
In addition to that, since this plan was agreed we have had Brexit, which is already having a significant impact on the retail community in a Border county like Sligo. Foreign direct investment jobs in that area are down 300. We have the highest commercial vacancy rate in Ireland at 16.8%. We have population decline. Those are CSO figures, not Marc MacSharry having a rant. We can skirt around the bush here and the Minister can say we want to tear up the plan. I do not want to tear up any plan. I am saying we should put realistic surplus targets in place. The €1.6 million this year was a phenomenal achievement, considering how low the discretionary fund is at 4%; it is significantly higher in the Minister's county.
We need to conclude, Deputy.
In advance of next week's meeting, I appeal to the Minister to put the thinking cap on, accept the fact that these surplus targets are not achievable. We do not want to tear up the plan, but as the Minister rightly pointed out, he stated his intentions and the fact that he was prepared to do it, it needs to be amended in the context of reviewing those surpluses downwards so that they are achievable.
We have already reviewed them in the context of the flexibility we have shown, but it is important to put on the record that Sligo County Council had been incurring revenue deficits for the years 2008 to 2014 resulting in a situation where the cumulative deficit now stands at just under €26 million, and long-term debt is in excess of €103 million. It is not a sustainable position. We need to fix it.
The Minister's own county council owes €600 million.
We cannot get involved in that.
The management in Cork county and Cork city have to manage their own affairs.
Minister, we do not engage with the Deputy. We answer through the Chair.
They are not independent republics.
We will not get involved in all of this.
They manage their own affairs. The responsibility to manage the financial affairs of local government is primarily with the executive team in each local authority and last December there was an agreement. The Deputy does not want to accept that but there was an agreement between the local authority and my Department in terms of a pathway back to financial sustainability for Sligo.
No. That was prescribed. The Minister knows it was prescribed.
It was not prescribed. It was signed off-----
Do not be provoked, Minister. Deputy MacSharry, will you control yourself?
The Deputy should stop grandstanding.
The Minister is being provocative. He did not put any of that rubbish in his initial response-----
There will be no further response if we do not let the man get on with it. The Minister has the floor.
What we have done is sat down on multiple occasions. The financial comptrollers in my Department have been negotiating with and talking to those in Sligo. That is where this needs to be resolved rather than the political grandstanding we are seeing.
I am talking facts. I am not grandstanding.
The Deputy is not talking facts. It is just like the last time.
I am here on behalf of the people of Sligo. I am not here to represent officials in the Department who are answerable to nobody and who-----
Deputy MacSharry, the Minister is not able to answer.
The position is that we are working through what is a difficult situation. Sligo County Council is an exception to virtually all other counties. There is a financial plan in place for Donegal as well but outside of that, no other county is getting an extra €1 million to help it get out of a difficult financial hole.
The surplus targets in Donegal that are being insisted on are several hundred thousand euro, not €3.6 million.
The matter is over. Thank you, Minister.
The Deputy is a joke.