Children with intellectual disabilities in the Galway area are being left without services because of a funding crisis, support groups have claimed.
Families with recently diagnosed children with disabilities have been placed on waiting lists for therapeutic or support services for the first time in almost 20 years as the crisis deepens, according to Mr Frank Conaty, chairman of the Galway Alliance of Parents and Carers.
"Early childhood services are critical for people with disabilities, as otherwise their conditions will just get worse. Because of the funding shortages, the health and education providers have had to shut the door on services for new children," Mr Conaty said.
"I know of 12 families who have a newly-diagnosed child with an intellectual disability with absolutely nothing. As well as the effects on the child, I can't emphasise enough what that means for parents. They are at the point where they are bankrupt emotionally and physically, as well as trying to campaign for services," he added.
The alliance is organising a public meeting tomorrow evening in Galway's Menlo Park Hotel to highlight the "crisis in services and basic living conditions of people with intellectual disabilities".
The Department of Health, which is partly responsible for disability services, has acknowledged the difficulties in the sector, but says it has put a record amount of money into developing services and was building new units as part of a major capital programme.
Mr Conaty acknowledged the increase in funding but said the Government was "running away from anyone who was pointing up the continuing human suffering" in the disability area.
The alliance says the crisis facing children is also reflected in services for adults. It says a centre opened during the general election campaign by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is lying idle while over-18s are going without vital therapies which would help them fulfil their potential.
"We have up to 100 people with intellectual disabilities incarcerated in a mental hospital, other adults housed for years in units designed for children with little or no occupational intervention, and hopelessly inadequate respite facilities," Mr Conaty said.
"When you reach 18, you fall off a cliff and have no right to services. Even those who have places in residential care are in inappropriate conditions."
He said tomorrow's meeting would focus on how the crisis could be resolved, and would call for enforceable rights to be included in the Disability Bill, due to published later this year.
The meeting will be addressed by Mr Seamus Greene of the Irish Autism Alliance; Prof Gerard Quinn, head of the disability law and policy research unit in NUI Galway; Mr Patrick McGinley, CEO of the Brothers of Charity Services in Galway, and Mr Paul Daly, CEO of Down Syndrome Ireland.
Mr Conaty said just a fraction of money the Government was spending on the Special Savings Incentive Accounts would help resolve the crisis in the sector. "The interest payments alone on the SSIA is costing around €550 million. We're looking for just a fraction, around €35 million, to improve services. It seems so simple yet the Government isn't doing anything about it."
CASE STUDY: Sinead's story
Ms Anne Lavelle received a letter earlier this year to say there was no funding to provide services for her 18-year-old handicapped daughter once the school year ended. She was shocked. Sinéad, who is physically and mentally disabled, had been making progress in school. She was communicating, mixing with people her own age, and walking despite her physical disability. Suddenly it was all going to end.
"I couldn't believe these services could be taken away. It was clearly a cutback, though it wasn't described like that," Anne says. "When you deprive people of therapies and social contact, inevitably it causes behavioural problems."
Anne, now a full-time carer in the home, campaigned to TDs and ministers, asking for funding to provide a place for her daughter. Last Friday, following media queries, the Department of Education announced that services would be provided for Sinéad and three other 18-year-olds in the same situation at the John Paul Centre in Galway. Anne is relieved that an immediate crisis has been averted, but is still worried for the future.
"It's a constant battle. We have services for Sinéad from September. But what about next year? And what about in five years' time? We don't know what will happen."
