Ms Linda Comerford:

I respect this committee being formed. The one thing we do not want is for this to be just another committee or that we speak to more politicians and tell them our frustrations and anger about how our children are being neglected and for that to be heard but then to blow away in the wind. We want TDs and Senators across parties to finally come together and put this issue to bed and put the children first. These children will not stay children; they will become adults. One of my children is an adult with a disability. If the members think children services are bad, it is gets to a whole new level once they turn 18. It is diabolical. All that happens is that all the different struggles are being pushed further and further down the road. When they get older it is so much harder on them and on their families. They are frustrated and Covid definitely impacted; we see how bad the services are. It really has impacted on how much our young people are struggling because, by God, they are struggling. Enough is enough and I know Ms Vanessa Murphy will concur with me on this. We just want to be finally heard, for the parents, the children and the professional bodies to be heard. Positive action with full engagement needs to happen. I do not want to be sitting here in ten years time talking about this. I do not want a point to come in the future, when the members are retired and my son has children - and God forbid one of them has a disability - when he would have to go through the same fight I had. I do not want to see that happen for anybody. We need to put this matter to bed and finally to put children first and provide them with the level of supports they need now in order for them to reach best potential because when they become adults it gets so much worse.