Statement From Sean O Niell - RSF

HSE CUTBACKS HIT HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

Handicapped children are now being targeted by cutbacks
by the HSE in Limerick with families being forced to cope
without respite care, a local Republican spokesman said
today

Sean O’Neill from Quinn’s Cottages in Prospect said that
already vulnerable children at the Bawnmore facility have
been told that certain respite services will no longer be
available.

To date the canteen has been closed and a meal
service withdrawn and parents have also been
informed that they will have to pay for transport
costs in future.

The fact that the level of respite care is being so
widely affected is bad news for these parents who
have children in sheltered accommodation.

A number of parents have also been informed
that there will be cut backs in sheltered facilities
and the prospect of sending handicapped children
back to their homes is also a possibility.

The parents of handicapped children deserve
all the support the HSE can give rather than
have to suffer cutbacks and reductions in
basic services.

It is obscene at a time when politicians are
drawing down vast sums in expenses that
the HSE is cutting back on the services to
the handicapped. The fact is the expenses of one politician
would ensure the provision of these services
for all the children affected.

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