Funding boost for Traveller child health initiatives

The Government has announced €500,000 in annual funding for improving Traveller child health.

The allocation will be provided for new projects in two of the six HSE health regions to deliver the HSE Brighter Beginnings Pilot Project for Traveller Children.

The announcement was made as the Government came under sharp criticism when it was revealed that no money has been paid out of an €8 million HSE disability fund which was promised in October 2023.

“Every child has the right to timely access to quality healthcare that is appropriate to their needs,” said Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Jennifer Murnane O’Connor TD.

“Too often, Traveller children remain on the fringes when it comes to engaging with essential services. They experience poverty and social exclusion, leading to poorer health outcomes. We are working to change this by providing equitable services.

“This is being achieved through the National Traveller Health Action Plan which has so far been supported by €4 million in additional funding.”

She added: “The funding I’m announcing today enables us to take another step forward. It will facilitate projects that support Traveller children and their families, identifying and addressing barriers so that they can access important services such as newborn and child health screening programmes, childhood vaccinations and developmental checks.”

Meanwhile, the Dáil heard yesterday how not ‘one red cent’ of an €8 million disability fund has been paid out to organisations helping children with special needs, 17 months after the allocation was first launched.

Then minister of State Anne Rabbitte announced the scheme in October 2023 as an emergency measure to fund urgently needed services for children with additional needs. A total of 52 organisations were supposed to benefit from the scheme.

Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the lack of activity around the Children’s Disability Service Grant was ‘another scandal’ for the Government.

After querying why the fund hadn’t been distributed, the Department of Health told him that ‘not only is there no money, but that this money was never there at all’.

In response, Tánaiste Simon Harris promised that the funding would be released imminently.

“The HSE has a level of funding that is almost eye-watering and €8 million is a rounding error,” he said.

“And the idea that €8 million could make a fundamental difference to the lives of so many children, including in their own county, and hasn’t yet been provided is extraordinarily frustrating”.