SOS Kilkenny under 'enormous pressure' and in need of funding

A Kilkenny TD is calling on the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities for funding of €540,000 for SOS Kilkenny to cover its costs and said that the centre is under 'enormous pressure'.

Speaking in the Dáil Deputy McGuinness said that SOS Services in Kilkenny has been delivering essential day and residential services for almost 50 years.

"It provides an excellent service. It is run by a very efficient chief executive who assists in a very direct way with all of the families concerned.

Call for Kilkenny businesses to prioritise sustainability in 2024

"Last year the HSE gave a once-off allocation of €540,000 to cover the once-off costs that SOS Kilkenny was experiencing at the time. This €540,000 payment should be repeated again this year because SOS finds itself under extreme pressure to meet all of the costs it faces."

"Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny are under enormous pressure. The extension of this is that the pressure then builds up on the families concerned. Some people are now elderly and they find it extremely difficult to cope. They would not be able to cope at all if it were not for SOS Kilkenny.

"I have tabled this matter to ask the Minister to repeat the grant of €540,000. I ask that the Minister look at the number of cases that are now with the Department of Health seeking funding for individual cases and families. These are families struggling with members who have a disability. Some families have more than one child with a disability. Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny stand in the gap, representing the HSE as it were, and delivering very good services.

"The fact that so many requests made of the Department for the funding of individual cases are not answered is absolutely despicable. We are dealing with the most vulnerable people of society.

"On behalf of SOS Kilkenny, all of the families concerned that are under pressure, and the manager of SOS Kilkenny, Francis Coughlan, who is an excellent example of good management. I ask the Department to respond to the request for €540,000. I also asked it to fast-track some of the cases that have been before it for the past four or five years. I want to make it clear to the Minister for Health that in raising the issue in the Dáil I am reflecting the views of all of the families concerned, the staff concerned and the manager.

"I want to add to this the need for respite. This has been going on for far too long. It needs to be funded and delivered. I will aske again and again for the delivery of this amount of money."

Deputy Kieran O'Connell who was taking the debate on behalf of Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte said that he took up the specific issue of SOS Kilkenny with Deputy Rabbitte and thanked Deputy McGuinness for raising this important matter on behalf of SOS Kilkenny.

"She is currently considering all applications, and no final decisions have been made. However I have spoken to her specifically on the Deputy's request about SOS. It obviously has an application in now for a similar amount of funding to last year - €540,000. The Minister is well aware of that and the great work it does," he said added that the Minister would hope to have a decision made in the not-too-distant future.

 Deputy McGuinness replied that the Minister is well aware of the services provided by the people in SOS and the struggles of families, because she spoke to Francis Coughlan and is aware that they have put everything they possibly can into what they do as individuals delivering those services. They go the extra mile. The families go the extra mile and the support is there for them, although that support has been diminished in terms of funding. Without the co-operation of SOS and the families concerned, some may well be institutionalised or put into some form of long term care, and that is not acceptable. 

"I ask that the Minister of State be told to make an early decision about this through the HSE and to take the pressure off those families and off the SOS organisation."