Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. I apologise on behalf of Deputy Ó Caoláin who would have taken the lead this morning but he is in the Chamber because of the clash with Question Time. The presentations were very interesting. The witnesses have outlined a number of issues but they have also made many clear recommendations. There are a few things I noticed while reading the presentation last night, namely, that there are serious gaps in our knowledge as to how people with intellectual disability age, that no one accepts responsibility and that people with intellectual disability fall between care systems. It is something we need to look at and deal with because we have an ageing population, with and without intellectual disabilities.

I want to ask a question about elderly parents looking after an ageing son or daughter, where they may have health issues themselves. When a son or daughter is diagnosed with dementia at 50 or 55 and are being cared for by an elderly parent, what happens? I read in one of the submission's that traditional intellectual disability service providers often feel they lack expertise in needed care and when they seek assistance from general health care memory clinics, hospitals and palliative care providers, they find little help and they fall between care systems. If an elderly parent needs to make alternative arrangements, how easily can that happen and what are the pathways? Are they clear?

I dealt with a case in Cork, which I will raise because I think it is relevant, of an elderly man looking after a son with an intellectual disability. The man was in his 80s and he passed away. It transpired that he had never claimed for carer's allowance or anything like that, so when another sibling took on the role of carer and applied for the allowance, they were refused because officials could not understand why someone would need a carer now when they had never had one, even though the man had looked after his son for over 40 years without a carer's allowance. I felt I needed to raise that.

Reading through some of the reports, I see that just 7% of adults in the Republic of Ireland with an intellectual disability are in paid employment. Is there scope for developing light work with some of the multinational companies as in the US? Could the Government propose co-operation with some supermarkets, for example, for this type of work? Three out of four adults with an intellectual disability have never written, texted, emailed or used social media to contact family or friends. In addition, less than 60% of adults with an intellectual disability use the telephone to contact family and friends. This group was also less likely to own a mobile phone than other adults in the Republic. The sense of isolation worsens conditions for people with learning disabilities. Have studies been done which provide evidence that increased social contact improves older people's well-being?

Can this type of evidence be used to encourage the Government to invest in new programmes? Is there scope perhaps for third level students or volunteers to visit people who are isolated on a regular basis to ensure human contact?

With regard to the under-diagnosis of osteopenia and osteoporosis, Professor McCarron said strategies are needed for objective assessment and targeted interventions for people with intellectual disabilities. What body is best placed and equipped to drive this?

She also said, "The IDS-TILDA evidence strongly suggests that a critical component in reducing reliance on congregated settings will be the quality and resourcing of supports for family care givers. Those needs must be addressed in public policy responses". Public policy supports decongregation but the funding switch to community supports is not followed as much as we may like. How must the Government act to ensure this transition in funding and, therefore, in the focus of care occurs?