Mental handicap group seeks £75m

The Government must provide £75 million over the next two years to resolve a major shortfall in services for people with mental…

The Government must provide £75 million over the next two years to resolve a major shortfall in services for people with mental handicap, according to the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies (NFVB).

There are currently 3,380 people with a mental handicap waiting for residential, daycare or respite services, with more than one in five (617) not receiving any service, the NFVB says.

The scale of the problem is not disputed by the Government, according to the federation, which represents 50 organisations providing services to people with mental handicap. The demand for services is also growing rapidly.

"Waiting lists for essential residential services have almost trebled in 10 years and are now increasing by 20 per cent per annum," the NFVB chairman, Mr Tom Hogan, said. "The reality is that the services are being overwhelmed by the growing number of crisis and emergency cases. For all these people, and their families, Budget 2000 is the last chance of the millennium when they can get dignity, justice and a decent quality of life."

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Of the 3,380 on the waiting list, 1,673 need residential placements and 952 require day services as a matter of urgency, according to the NFVB chief executive, Mr Brian O'Donnell.

The Government has committed itself to capital funding for the sector. But there was now a need for it to provide revenue to wipe out the current waiting list and address the growing need, Mr O'Donnell said.

Of the £75 million required over the next two years to address the problem, £40 million of this was needed in next month's Budget, the NFVB said.

However, the solution goes beyond providing additional funding, according to Mr Tony Murray, from Fairview, Dublin, whose 16-year-old daughter, Aoife, has Rubenstein Taybi Syndrome, which has left her moderately mildly handicapped.

Aoife relied on care under a 1947 Act which provided care as a favour, rather than a right, Mr Murray said. He wants his daughter and all other people with a mental handicap to have a right to such State care. "The solution is not just down to money, but money and legislation, or money and attitude," he said.