People with disabilities in Galway are to benefit from new Government investment in respite services, a Fine Gael TD has said.
Deputy Hildegarde Naughton announced that the Government-funded Respite Development Programme for 2018 will mean additional services for Galway.
She said that Galway-based providers will now be able to offer up to an additional 400 respite bed nights.
“This will cater for the needs of approximately 40 users and will be of great benefit to people with disabilities in Galway as well as their families and carers. Fine Gael is using the economic recovery to support the most vulnerable people in communities around the country. In the last Budget an additional €10 million was allocated to improve respite services,” she said, adding that this is now being used to provide new centre-based residential respite and alternative respite services for people with a disability and their families and carers, such as the additional respite hours for Galway announced this week.
“Caregiving can be a highly demanding and stressful responsibility, and no one is equipped to do it without some help. Just like the loved ones they care for, caregivers also need support and attention to maintain their own health and well-being.
“Respite care, which provides caregivers with the opportunity for a temporary rest from their caregiving duties, is designed to do just that,” said Dep Naughton, adding that it is also hugely important that carers look after their own health and well-being, and ensuring we have proper respite services in Galway is crucial to that.
“This €10 investment in respite care nationally, is additional to the respite services the HSE has already committed to provide as part of its National Service Plan 2018. This plan targets the provision of more than 45,500 day places and 182,500 overnights for more than 6,320 people with a disability who avail of these services,” she said.
