Sir, – When an internal audit at the HSE discovered that €6.24 million was paid to some senior managers at St John of God, Dr Geraldine Smith, assistant national director of operations at the HSE Internal Audit Division, said the St John of God order had shown “a complete lack of candour”.
The audit found that St John of God had been paying salary top-ups to senior managers at least as far back as 1986. These additional payments ranged from €23,000 to €107,000 per annum – a great deal of money.
I wonder why the payments were so large given the poor state of the services being provided to people with disabilities in the past few years.
The latest revelations are most upsetting for parents and carers, many of whom will do anything to help, including fundraising for St John of God. Parents and carers have shown great patience dealing with the latest news. Parents are all too aware of the physical and emotional frailty of our children. We put our children and adults with disabilities first. But what a battle it is.
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Despite our efforts, over the past few years there have been severe cuts, including cuts in respite services.
My son (49 years old) did not receive any respite services for over 18 months. He now receives three to four nights of respite a month, an improvement that came about through the efforts of Finian McGrath and the HSE.
However, there is still no regularity to the respite services.
Further, parents are not kept informed about the implications of such initiatives as New Directions, which are set to have a huge impact on the lives of people with disabilities and their carers. Parents are not informed about the future, whether it relates to respite, transport, future housing requirements, or other services.
We are older parents with dependent adults. We deserve some respect.
We and other parents call on St John of God to hold meetings with parents to discuss these issues and the uncertainty around our children’s futures.
Our son is a friendly, warm, and optimistic person. I will endeavour to follow his lead and hope for a lot more from St John of God in future. – Yours, etc,
BRID COLE,
Dublin 6W.