By Michael O’Farrell – Investigations Editor.
FAMILIES reliant on St John of God community services have spoken of their frustration at being let down by both the charity and the HSE.
‘I really believe that both St John of God and the HSE are equally to blame for the whole demise of the service,’ said Aisling McNiffe whose son Jack attends St Raphael’s school for special needs children in Celbridge, Co. Kildare.
‘The HSE were funding them and they had nobody on the board to watch where the funds go and St John of Gods were squandering the money on wages for the top dogs,’ Ms McNiffe said.
‘The quality of life for the people living there was poor – yet the people at the top who are supposed to be in charge and looking after the most vulnerable in society were raking the money in,’ she continued.
Ms McNiffe was also annoyed that she learned of the news when CEO Clare Dempsey went on radio on Wednesday morning – before many letters to parents had been delivered.
David Girvan – father of a 23-year old daughter in the care of St John of God in south Dublin – said there was ‘a lot of fear and anxiety and concern and stress,’ at the decision of St John of God to walk away from providing HSE services.
He too was critical of both sides. ‘I think a lot of people would probably agree to both sides of the argument,’ he said.
‘Yes we wish John of God were more transparent and, yes, we’ve always had a problem with them but you’ve got to understand that everything that we ask them to do has to be paid for by somebody.’ ‘We as a country have to realise that we cannot rely on charity to provide services for this cohort of people who are unfortunately unable to provide for themselves,’ he said.
Mr Girvan – who is a board member of Inclusion Ireland – criticised the spin being put on events by both the HSE and St John of God.
‘It sickens me the amount of spin – that you can’t see the transparency,’ he said.
‘They purposefully hide the transparency – and it’s true of everyone, every Government department, every politician and it’s true of senior management in a lot of organisations. John of God is no different.’ Mr Girvan added that he did not think the HSE would be in a position to take over the services provided by St John of God – nor did he think any other provider could step in.
‘I don’t think you’ll find any other service provider currently active in the Irish territory who would be willing to take it on under the service level and financial arrangements that are currently in place,’ he said.
‘If the outcome is the HSE realises it has to pay more – I’m all in favour. I’m happy to swap John of God for HSE if it results in them having to admit that more money is needed to provide the services that are required.’
