PEOPLE GATHERED outside the Dáil and in Edenderry, Co Offaly yesterday to protest at the withdrawal of services caused by cutbacks imposed by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The issue was also raised in an Oireachtas health committee yesterday, where the Government was criticised for its failure to deal adequately with services for the intellectually disabled.
About 300 people, many of them with disabilities, gathered outside the Dáil yesterday to protest against cuts in acute services for the intellectually disabled provided by the Daughters of Charity in Dublin.
Services were withdrawn because the Daughters of Charity had been forced, through HSE cutbacks, to make more than €4.5 million in savings.
Protesters opposing the cuts assembled at Merrion Square in Dublin city centre and marched to the Dáil with banners and placards calling on the HSE to intervene.
Enda Gallagher, spokesman for the protesters’ organising body, the St Vincent’s Parent Partnership Forum, said some 80 children under the age of seven would be without vital services and therapies if the cuts were implemented.
And in Edenderry, people protested outside the HSE-run Ofalia House day care centre over the cessation of day care services on Tuesdays.
It has led to overcrowding on other days, they say, and they also fear further cuts if the move is left unchallenged.
The facility provides day care and support for elderly clients who drop in to the facility, according to day care client Marie Jones, who said the facility was essential for the elderly, particularly those living in remote rural areas.
“It is very important, especially for elderly people living alone.
“It is the only chance they get to mix with people of their own age group and they look forward to the day out, the chat,” Ms Jones said.
Speaking at an Oireachtas health committee yesterday, Fine Gael disability spokesman, David Stanton TD, criticised the Government’s history of inadequately dealing with matters relating to people with intellectual disabilities.
Mr Stanton said that people with intellectual disabilities, their families and their carers were fearful that more services would be withdrawn, and he called on the Government to address the situation.