A PROTEST against HSE cutbacks, which forced the closure of a respite facility for intellectually disabled people in Limerick, overshadowed Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s visit to the city yesterday.
Mr Cowen was in Limerick to visit three of the city’s regeneration areas following the recent approval of €337 million for 26 projects in the massive redevelopment plan.
During a media briefing at the northside regeneration agency offices in Moyross, the Taoiseach said he only wished to discuss the Limerick regeneration project, which he described as the “biggest public project in Ireland in coming years”. However, he did discuss the recent closure of the Brothers of Charity respite facility in Caherdavin when he arrived at Kings Island Community Centre to turn the sod for a new childcare facility.
About 100 people staged a protest outside the community centre where the Taoiseach was shown petitions signed by more than 6,000 people from across Limerick. The cuts mean parents caring for family members with an intellectual disability have had their respite services withdrawn because the Brothers of Charity have been forced, through HSE cutbacks, to make more than €1 million in savings.
Among those who confronted the Taoiseach yesterday was pensioner Sarah Hurley from Roxboro Road, Limerick, who is the sole carer of her 43-year-old son John, who was also present.
“How am I going to get a break?” Mrs Hurley asked the Taoiseach. A widow in her 70s, Mrs Hurley pleaded with Mr Cowen to reopen the respite facility in Caherdavin where her son would spend three or four days a month. “For the past 43 years I have looked after John and I haven’t got as much as one cent from the government. What am I going to do? If I had to go into hospital in the morning sick he would have to come with me. He’d be better off in jail,” she said.
Mr Cowen told the group of protesters that the Government was trying to maintain the “frontline services as best we can” while also trying to make changes to how services are delivered.
Fr Joe Young, who is chaplain of the Brothers of Charity Services, also made a passionate plea on behalf of those affected by the cuts in respite services, following the Taoiseach’s address inside the Kings Island Community Centre. “I would like if you would give us one simple gift today,” Fr Young asked. “Don’t have adults lost with their children . . . and I’m talking to you as a priest and somebody who has spent 25 years in Southill that was abandoned by successive governments.”
During his visit to Limerick the Taoiseach held a meeting with the board members of the regeneration project, including chairman and author of the Fitzgerald report John Fitzgerald.
Mr Cowen also confirmed that one agency will now oversee the project, which up until now was managed by the northside and southside regeneration agencies.
Earlier this month the Government approved the €337 million implementation plan for Limerick regeneration, which means construction work on houses, roads, and community facilities can get under way.
The Taoiseach also said that an increased allocation from the Department of the Environment from €25 to €35 million would allow for more demolition to take place.