Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for attending the committee meeting and for their dissertation.

Several points are emerging. The first is the question of de-congregation. I have deep suspicions about decongregation. I have had the same suspicions since the first time I heard the message, because I saw things happening then. Things were conveniently available on the basis that decongregation was an issue in the background.

For example, I can see it in St. Raphael's special school in Celbridge where there was a proposal to decongregate and create a town centre on the location. The more important, appropriate, sensitive and urgent issue was how to cater for the children and young adults with special needs who were dependent on the facilities which were there for many years.

I was a member of the Eastern Health Board when decongregation took place in the mental health services and the major mental hospitals. We were reassured at the time that everything would be all right on the night. It did not happen that way. We see the legacy of that practice to this day. I strongly urge very careful consideration before going too far down that route. Where the congregation was concentrated, there was a tendency to ensure that a well-equipped, competent staff was available at all times. By virtue of the multiplicity of people involved in the provision of the care, there was a greater tendency to achieve higher standards. When the number of people associated with the patient, the child or the resident is reduced, the danger will always be that standards may shift dramatically over a short period. It is not always the case but, human nature being what it is, that is the tendency. That has been proven repeatedly in institutions here, in the UK, across Europe and in other countries. I register my concern in that regard.

I am also concerned for the family members of people with disabilities because they are scared at the moment. The word "decongregation" scares the hell out of them. In many cases, if there are two family members available to cater for the person with the disability or special needs, it is not too bad. If there is only one carer, the burden is wholly on them. If that person happens to be the mother, daughter, aunt or whoever, that person may find himself or herself confined to that situation for most of his or her life. If a woman of 20 takes over care of a child, young adult or whoever, by the age of 40 that woman will have spent half of her life in that business. It can be depressing. It can create a sense of isolation and despair and does so in many situations. All the relevant authorities should concentrate on that.

While men are also affected, women are significantly affected in the sense that they may have had a career of their own which they may have wanted to pursue. The possibility of them getting any assistance towards accommodation, day services or residential care for the dependant during the week while spending weekends at home is very important. The carers do not mind that because it is the respite they look forward to. It is the break in the tedium and the monotony of the burden that has been placed upon them. We do not fully appreciate the extent to which those carers have been committed by forces outside their control to continuing to provide the degree and quality of service they do. They will do it to the death. It is not fair to them. Very often, the danger of allowing that situation to drift is that an aversion to their charge can develop in reaction to the situation in which they have found themselves. That does not happen in most cases but it can happen. Human nature will enlighten us that it can and that the great dedication and love they have for the relative or other dependant may be strained over time.

Others have made the point in regard to when a person is no longer able to care for their relative or provide the quality of services that person has enjoyed. As everybody in the room is aware, there are women who have spent their whole lives lifting a relative in and out of bed, sitting them into a wheelchair, bringing them to day care treatment and then bringing them home for the evening and so on. The carer ends up a physical wreck by virtue of the degree to which she has been called upon to provide services in the home. Everyone requires the patient, be they a dependent child with a disability or otherwise, to be in the home and their own environment as much as possible. However, it does not work well in all situations. It needs to be carefully looked at as a matter of some urgency.

I cannot understand why it would not be possible to get an accelerated form of Garda vetting to ensure those working with vulnerable people are vetted at an earlier stage. Bureaucracy in this country has gone as far as it can. Everything is a waiting list. No matter what one wants to do, there is a waiting list. That is unnecessary. Certain things can happen fairly quickly. Other countries can do it and I cannot understand why it cannot be done here or we do not have the facilities to do it here. Accelerated Garda vetting would not cost money. It is just there and can be done.

Locating vulnerable people in outreach situations for respite or whatever other reason requires the severest form of vetting. In the event of there being a complaint, and we have had situations like this, there should only be one complaint before action is taken. There is no need for any more. There is no need to refer the unfortunate kids back to the same situation or allow them to be sent back to the same situation ever again. If somebody felt it necessary to express their concerns about how a person with special needs was treated in a particular environment, the person with special needs should never be sent back to that environment. We need to do whatever it takes to ensure that is regulated properly. It only requires a stroke of a pen to do it. We do not have to have a report or have a big song and dance about it. It can be done by simply issuing an order.