Some 2,500 adults and children in County Galway, who suffer from long-term incontinence problems, are being forced to pay higher bin charges for disposing of their adult nappies, a Galway TD has claimed.
In the Dáíl, Independent Galway West TD Noel Grealish raised the issue of the delay in introducing the €75 annual support, towards the cost of disposing of medical incontinence products, for those with lifelong or long-term medical incontinence. According to the HSE there are 2,463 people in Galway city and county who are in receipt of incontinence wear products from their public health nurse.
He pointed out that the support was announced more than 18 months go, and still “thousands of people are waiting for it to be brought in”. He called the delay “unacceptable” and said it was “not fair” that people with incontineance problems “should have to pay extra just to dispose of their incontinence pads”.
In response, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton, said his Department was developing a mechanism to provide the €75 support. He said: “I am informed this process has taken longer than envisaged, due to a number of issues, including data protection issues that have arisen since the introduction of GDPR. However, I can assure the Deputy I am committed to introducing an annual support as soon as practically possible in conjunction with relevant agencies and stakeholders.”
Dep Grealish replied that while he understood complications had arisen, “it beggars belief that it should take this long to get over whatever technical hurdles there may be”. He added: “I find it hard to believe this hold-up wouldn’t have been sorted out long ago if the Government was truly concerned about speeding up the introduction of this modest assistance.”
