Vol. 398 No. 1
23 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Health the action he proposes to take in respect of Cheeverstown House, Dublin 16; if he will give an up-to-date report on his efforts to resolve the impasse there; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As the Deputy is aware, I am most anxious that the difficulties which have arisen in respect of Cheeverstown House will be resolved as soon as possible.
I informed the House in January that I had referred the issue of the management of the substantial public investment in Cheeverstown House to the Attorney General and that I was awaiting his advice.
Since then initiatives have been taken by representatives of the wider voluntary mental handicap movement and I hope these discussions may avert the necessity for direct State action in the matter. I hope the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be helpful to go into further details at this time.
Members of the House have been very patient in relation to this matter. They gave the Minister the benefit of the doubt when he told them last December that the situation was intolerable, to use his own words. He told us that he had instituted a course of action that would resolve the matter. Many months have passed and pressure on places for the mentally handicapped have increased. There are hundreds of people throughout the country seeking residential care places while the finest facility in the country has 60 vacancies. The patience of Members has been worn thin on this issue and I should like to ask the Minister to state clearly what he intends doing to resolve this unacceptable situation as a matter of urgency.
I agree with the Deputy that the situation is intolerable but I might add that it is not new, it was in existence when the Deputy's former colleague was in Government. He, and that Government, washed their hands of it and handed the matter over to the Eastern Health Board. They did not accept any responsibility for the matter.
That was three years ago and a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since.
The Deputy's party were in Government with the Labour Party at that time. Discussions are taking place with representatives of the major voluntary organisations providing services for the mentally handicapped and it is my hope that there will be a satisfactory solution to the problem in the very near future.
It is obvious that after three years in office the Minister wishes to blame others for his own difficulties. The Minister has had responsibility for this for three long years. Will he outline the proposals, if any, he has to resolve this intolerable situation? Last December he told us he had a course of action. We trusted him and did not pursue the issue but months later the pressure on the beds still exists and there are many people urgently requiring them. The Minister has not brought concrete proposals to the House to resolve this impasse. It is now past time——
I appeal for brevity as priority questions are involved.
Will the Minister tell the House in detail what he proposes to do to resolve this unacceptable situation?
As the House is aware, the problem is that the Eastern Health Board, who are now responsible for funding Cheeverstown, have been unhappy with the manner in which it was operated. There was a difficulty between the Eastern Health Board and Cheeverstown. I established a group, representative of Cheeverstown and the Eastern Health Board, with an independent chairman who tried to resolve the situation without success. Subsequently I wrote to the Attorney General for his advice because of the massive investment of State funds involved and, following that, a group from the voluntary organisations, who provide services for mental handicap, became involved in trying to resolve the situation. In the interests of the mentally handicapped — children and adults — it is best to settle this in an amicable manner and I am hopeful that there will be a solution as a result of the ongoing discussions.
Deputy Howlin rose.
A very brief question, please.
Will the Minister indicate the reason for the unhappiness of the Eastern Health Board in this matter? What is the Minister's view?
Quite a sizeable sum of money is involved — over £2 million a year — and the Eastern Health Board, who have overall responsibility for the delivery of services for persons suffering from mental handicap, have been unhappy with the manner in which Cheeverstown is operating. I am not prepared — it is not in the question — to go into the details of why the Eastern Health Board are unhappy because discussions are going on which will obviously involve them and Cheeverstown. It would not be appropriate to go into details at present.
