05/09/2012

Government U-Turn On Disability Cuts

More than €10m in cuts that would have affected the disabled have been stopped in a last minute U-turn by the government on Tuesday night.

Following a barrage of criticism since the announcement of the cuts last week by the Health Service Executive, the U-turn was decided a lengthy Cabinet meeting largely devoted to the financial problems in the health service.

The meeting agreed that Minister for Health Dr James Reilly’s officials will direct the HSE not to proceed with planned cuts to personal assistant hours, which were projected to save €10.8 million this year.

Savings will now come instead from cuts in travel and subsistence costs in the disability sector, Dr Reilly said last night.

Controversial cuts in spending on home help services will still go ahead however. In a statement, Dr Reilly said the HSE would assess each application for home help according to individual needs. It is not clear where the resources for such assessments will come from.

(H)

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