No one likes us, I don’t know why. We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try.
Political Science, Randy Newman

Ministers, Senators, T.D.s, the HSE itself – all are expressing their support for Teach An Saol.

RTÉ’s Primetime programme published a lengthy article on their website and a segment in their live programme last Tuesday (see around 07:22 in the clip below).

“The An Saol Foundation is stepping in to fill the gap in services provided by the State. The Foundation plans to open a larger facility in Ballymun, including step-down accommodation that could help people avoid nursing homes.

“Dublin City Council has made a site available, but Reinhard Schäler says the project is now mired in HSE bureaucracy. “A year and a half ago, we were nearly there” he says. “Then everything stopped.”

“Reinhard says he is now filling in a new set of forms “for the same purpose” as forms he filled in previously. “It’s very hard to understand, and it’s very frustrating,” he said, noting that the HSE is in full support of the proposed project and has highly evaluated the current An Saol service.

“He says that there is no time to waste.

“We have an urgency here. We have the people here who need this now, not in five years or 10 years.”

Last Wednesday, the Minister for Disability, Hildegarde Naughton visited the An Saol Foundation and promised to get to the bottom of the matter of the inexplicable, dreadful inertia of the HSE bureaucracy.

On Wednesday, the same day Minister Naughton visited the An Saol Foundation, Paul McAuliffe of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability questioned the HSE about their support for the An Saol Foundation’s Teach An Saol Project. In his reply, Bernard Gloster, CEO, complimented the An Saol Foundation on their excellent work and said that he would be more than happy to meet with us to advance the Teach An Saol project.

Did you hear Paul’s really funny reference to this German man who, with the best will in the world, cannot understand the Irish bureaucracy?

My main concern, our main concern, is to plan ahead for Pádraig’s future, and the future of our friends in the An Saol Foundation. Because we are better together. Because we take responsibility. Because we strive for healthy living.

At the Centre of this plan is the An Saol Foundation and Teach An Saol with its four hubs: therapy, social, respite, and transitional supported living.

It must be realised, as a whole, in good time. Only then will it be useful.

If that turned out to become impossible, it will be, again, every man, every family, for themselves.

After all the effort so many people put into this project, that would be tragic, to say the least.

We have passed the point where expressions of support and niceties will do.

Seriously.

We need action now. We need to see evidence that politicians take responsibility, that they do more than making promises, that they have realised they were elected for a reason.

That is political science.

We have No Time To Waste.