Donegal Councillor seeks removal of daily charge on disabled users of day services

A Donegal County Councillor has sought for the removal of a €4 daily charge for disabled service users using Local Link bus services to access the various day services.

Councillor Ciaran Brogan raised the matter at this month's meeting of the Regional Health Forum West.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Brogan asked that the HSE remove the €4 daily charge for service users who attend their disability day service in Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) 1 area.

“This charge is not formally charged to all disability day service users in the CHO 1 area nor is it applied to disability users outside of this area,” Councillor Brogan said.

In response, Dermot Monaghan, the Chief Officer in CHO 1, said that an “in-depth and forthright discussion took place” during a meeting with disability service users, an advocacy liaison person and senior HSE disability services managers on May 3.

“The points raised are now subject to further discussion within the HSE,” Mr Monaghan said.

“The matter of the charge is currently under review.”

Councillor Brogan said the matter in question has “been around for some time.”

“It is a bit unfair that a lot of these people have passes,” Councillor Brogan said. “Senior management has this in their grasp.”

He outlined that Anne Rabbitte, the Minister of State for Health, visited and indicated that she was anxious to deal with the issue.

Tony Canavan, the Regional Executive Officer for HSE West and North, said the only commitment he could give was that the matter will be looked at seriously.

“There is a significant financial element, which cannot be ignored,” he said. “There is a strong feeling in CHO1 that we need to do something about it, but we can't ignore the financial implications.”

The €4 charge was introduced by the HSE in 2019.

At the time, it said: “Due to increasing transport costs and to enable the continued delivery of these essential services, it is necessary to introduce a standard €4 daily charge for all CHO 1 service users.

“This charge will contribute to overall improvements in service delivery including increased number of routes, shorter journey times and improvement in overall quality of vehicles used.”