Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I confirm I am in Leinster House. I thank the Chair for allowing me to participate in this afternoon’s meeting. I have followed the debate all along. I thank the witnesses for their participation. This is a matter close to my own heart. I have a few issues I want to put to the witnesses.

The Covid crisis has served as a wake-up call to many families particularly in parts of rural Ireland where there are elderly and ageing parents looking after a younger person with a disability in the house. Covid has caused us all to look at our own fragility. We have seen in excess of 4,000 people lose their lives in Ireland over the last 12 months. It is a reminder of the fact that many older people will not be around forever, and they need to future-plan for the needs of their child.

It concerns me that there is a mountain of applications for sheltered accommodation building. I do not necessarily believe we are meeting those needs. I hope some of the Minister of State’s officials can dig into some of those figures, if possible. Are there figures available in relation to applications versus availability of accommodation for people with physical and intellectual disabilities in the mid-west? Are those statistics available today? I will come in with another question afterwards.