Mattie McGrath: Urgent plea over Brothers of Charity respite cuts
Deputy Mattie McGrath spoke on 16 Dec 2021 about funding and respite services for the Brothers of Charity, urging increased support for families. He warned that cuts to respite provision are an acute problem leaving parents exhausted and at risk.
Concerns over Brothers of Charity
The Deputy thanked staff and volunteers and said the Brothers of Charity do sterling work throughout the 26 counties but are currently starved of funding, with respite services the worst affected area.
Impact on families and respite provision
He described how respite breaks that once came every month or every two months have been hammered, leaving families caring for challenging young adults or adults under huge strain and causing parents to become sick.
Funding questions and dedicated staff
The Deputy said the organisation has dedicated staff who will be working over Christmas and asked why such a valuable organisation should be starved of cash, noting significant additional health spending this year.
Ministerial response on budget and capacity
The minister responded that no organisation was left starved for cash after the budget and that respite funding had been a priority. The minister said staff reductions in buildings where the virus is present have reduced capacity but organisations are working to bring services back to 100% to restore family respite.
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For the Royal Independence, I want to thank you and be associated with all the remarks to all the staff and everybody else. I wish everybody a happy, holy, peaceful and restful Christmas. And on the restful Christmas, that's why my question is, for the people, the brothers of charity do sterling work right throughout the 26 counties and have been for decades, but they're starved of funding at present. And the biggest, the worst area is the respite. Families who have very challenging, you know, young adults and maybe adults, and they need the respite. It keeps them alive, literally. The weekend, they get every month or every two months, but it's been hammered. And brothers of charity need the funding. They have the staff, dedicated staff, and I want to thank them too, and they'll be working on for Christmas. But the families need this respite. In temporary, it's an acute problem, and they're not getting the respite. Parents are getting sick, and a huge strain, especially in a year when he spent about £5 billion extra, on top of what the HSC had, always. So I can't see why this valuable organisation should be starved for cash. Thank you, Deputy. Thank you very much, Deputy for raising that question. In actual fact, there's no organisation left starved for cash after this budget. To be quite honest with you, it was one of my major priorities in funding this year was in relation to respite. But in actual fact, the real issue here is that we have to reduce staff within buildings where we have the virus. But I'm happy to say that all of the organisations are working really, really hard to bring it back up to 100% capacity to ensure the families get the respite that they so need. Thank you, Deputy.
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