Parkinson’s Ireland warns of risk to services due to lack of funding

The 11th of April is World Parkinson’s Day and we are speaking publicly about the lack of funding for Parkinson’s Ireland.

This issue was covered on the RTE TV news at 1pm and 6pm and on Drivetime on RTE Radio 1 on the 11th of April. You can read the piece on RTE by Fergal Bowers here.

It was also featured on Newstalk show ‘The Hard Shoulder’ on Thursday, where our CEO Shane O’Brien joined Sinead O’Kane, who was diagnosed with PD at the age of 39. You can listen back to their discussion here.

There is also an article on The Irish Independent, where Brenda O’Connell spoke about how she is alarmed that Parkinson’s Ireland could have to cut services to vulnerable patients due to lack of funding.

59 year old Brenda O’Connell is a lecturer in Maynooth, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Brenda O’Connell as a person with Parkinson’s for telling her story and talking about the positive impact that Parkinson’s Ireland’s services have had on her.

You can watch Brenda’s video interview here.

Reporter Una Kelly also covered the issue on RTE Drivetime, you can listen back here.

Service Risk

We currently receive €70,000 a year, but this amounts to just 10% of our overall income. On average, other neurological charities receive over 50% of their income from the Government.

Parkinson’s Ireland applied to the HSE for an extra €121,000 under Section 39 funding.

The €70,000 a year we currently receive is set for services in Galway and Mayo for physiotherapy and speech therapy.

Parkinson’s Ireland has also lobbied Minister for Disability Roderic O’Gorman, Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbitte and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly regarding our funding issue.