Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Five weeks ago tomorrow, I brought up a particularly tough case during Leaders' Questions that has been going on for the past two to three years concerning young Seán. He is eating the couch at the moment, as well as opening the fridge, breaking all the delf, and going out and breaking the windows of cars. Young Seán has still been left the same way. In fairness to the Taoiseach's office, and I will not name people, the person there has rung me several times. There is a reality here, however. It is a sad reality we all must face. The Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities was on this. Every Minister in health was involved in it. We have gone to the top to the Taoiseach of our country. Unfortunately, all we have had are meetings, meetings, meetings and waffle, waffle, waffle.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Same here.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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All we have got at the end of it is a father who is desperate, and siblings who have been assaulted, and the same situation.

If we go to the other side of it, a neighbour of mine, a lady in her late 70s, was to get a bed in Beaumont Hospital. Her family took a week off on five occasions, took an apartment in Dublin at a cost to themselves, and took time off work to be with their mother. Every time, her bed has been cancelled. It is more waffle, waffle, waffle. It is a sad situation when the money has been given by the Taoiseach and our Ministers. If I am the boss of a company or of something, I tell someone to do that or to not do it. It is one or the other. There are two choices; you either do it or if you do not produce the goods, you are not there. The charity sector the money was given to has failed this country. That is a sign of victory, when you look at people. They have turned that around the other way. The Government knows what they have told it. I have talked to the Taoiseach's own office. I am not blaming the people there. In fairness, a person there has contacted me nearly every day.

However, is there not something awful wrong with this country in 2024 when a youngster in County Roscommon is eating a couch, when a woman is lying at home bent over, fluid has to be drained from her brain, and her appointment has been cancelled five times? We talk about all the money we have and Ireland going forward. What have we done? We have left these people desolate. Is that the type of governance we should talk about or be proud of in 2024?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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No, it is not. It absolutely is not. There is nothing I can say or will attempt to say to suggest that it is.

Deputy Fitzmaurice raised the case of Seán in the House five weeks ago and told the Dáil in very vivid and graphic terms, and I say that respectfully, of the huge challenges that Seán's father was, and clearly is, experiencing and his concerns for the welfare of the rest of his family, of Seán and, I am sure, of himself. As the Deputy rightly said, and I thank him for acknowledging it, my own office has been liaising intensively with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who has been working very hard on this and continues to liaise intensively with the HSE to try to reach a resolution to what is a very difficult, and I do not say that to be dismissive, situation. I understand the HSE met with Seán's father last week. The HSE has acknowledged the slow pace of securing a residential placement, which I think is a bit of an understatement. Funding does remain in place, as the Deputy said. This is not an issue of Government funding, as the Deputy has been clear on. There are often issues of Government funding in this House. This is not one of those issues. Now we are being told the Brothers of Charity is trying to stand up a residential service and trying to recruit and source a suitable property within the county. I take what the Deputy said about meetings and waffle, and I am conscious of that as I say this next sentence, but my understanding is a further meeting is scheduled this week between the HSE, the Brothers of Charity and the family. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte is going to go to that meeting herself to express the Government's utter dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy and with how long this situation has been going on.

There is validity in the Deputy's broader point about the charity sector. I do not say that, nor does the Deputy, to cast a kind of cloud over the sector or anything like that. Lots of good work happens in that regard, but often the person with the disability or their family are not as empowered as they should be in terms of what happens with the money that is allocated. That is why I would like to see, and I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte would too, a greater use of the personalised budget model, where the person or family is empowered with the funding and it is not left up to anybody or another organisation to get their act together and get a service in place.

I am sorry my answer is not more satisfactory. It is a really devastating situation for Seán and his family. I can assure the Deputy that, right up to my office, we are monitoring this extremely closely. I am very sorry that Seán has been failed. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will attend that meeting scheduled this week with the HSE and the Brothers of Charity. I will speak to her directly and keep in touch with the Deputy. If the Deputy gives me the details on Beaumont, I can talk to the Minister for Health.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I have acknowledged the person in the Taoiseach's office who has been in constant contact. I am not having a go at anybody here. I am having a go at the fact it has been meeting after meeting since then. There will be another meeting next Thursday. There has been plenty of talk, but there is only one thing the HSE has said, which is that it has no resolution. Imagine that. Those are the facts. The HSE has said it has no resolution. We are going to go into a meeting again on Thursday. We will be sitting around a table for another hour, and we will hear the same thing and it will go on again. That is not the way you treat people with severe autism. That is not the way you treat families in Ireland.

On the other side, I talked about an elderly person. I am bringing it from one side to the Taoiseach. Seán has just turned 18 years old. We were promised for two years that if we weathered this storm, and by God his father did, Seán would have a place the day he was 18. On the other side I have a neighbour who has needed fluid drained from her brain five times. That family are not millionaires. They are ordinary working people who rented an apartment in Dublin a few times to have accommodation while their mother was in hospital. That procedure has been cancelled every time. Why? They are told there are no beds. With Seán, they did not have a house and then they had a house, they did not have the staff and then they were recruiting staff. The Taoiseach mentioned staff himself. I have been hearing about staff for the past 18 months. In private business, if I go in as a subbie with tractors and dump trailers, I cannot say "Sorry lads, I've no staff". You would be kicked out the door. That is the way it works. That is the ruthlessness of the private sector and how it works, and that is why it delivers. In the public sector at the moment, however, there is no accountability, whether it is the HSE or the charity sector and whether we like it or not.

They are not listening to politicians either, which is a damnable and sad thing to see.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy said the HSE has said there is no resolution. I do not doubt what he has heard. What they are telling me is they are trying to do two things: they are trying to secure a property in the county and they - when I say "they", I mean the Brothers of Charity - in parallel are running a recruitment campaign to staff that service. That is what they are telling me is happening. The most frustrating thing about when I say Seán is being failed is that he did not arrive aged 18 and there was a period that was not effectively used. It is not a funding issue. I have had them in my constituency where there have been funding issues in relation to this. In this case, the funding has been provided. Clearly, the preparatory work was not done and Seán has been failed. The question I ask rhetorically and which I will endeavour to find the answer to now is, with the funding in place, can anything be done in the interim, even in terms of inreach for Seán and his family, because there is funding in place that is not being used currently? I will inquire further about that.

Regarding the constituent waiting for a bed in Beaumont Hospital, it sounds like a serious situation. If the Deputy sends me the details, the Minister for Health can pursue it with the hospital.