Ms Niamh Ryan:

I thank all the members for giving us this opportunity. The reason I chose to sit in Liam's room was to tell a story through pictures as well. I often think you can tell somebody a story but if he or she can actually see the situation, it makes it clearer. As Mr. Douglas said, there is so much work involved and we are going 24 hours a day. Even when Liam is in his special school, I have to stay around home because I never know when I will get a call that he is unwell. We never get a full break. This will sound a little daft, but we are actually quite lucky that Liam is under the care of LauraLynn children's hospice. That is the only respite we get during the year. If it was not for LauraLynn, we would never get outside our home at all. We are depending on these charities to give us an opportunity to be able to do something with our other children. As I said, Liam is a twin. Sean went into first year this year, which is a big change in his life, so we are trying to look after our whole family.

As Mr. Douglas said, no two families are the same, but there is so much joy. Every family carer wants to be able to look after their loved one in their own home. All we are asking for is a little bit of support financially and with services. I refer to the whole dynamic of caring for someone with special needs or with an illness and the whole package in that context being examined. It will only be through giving family carers like ourselves the opportunities to tell our stories that we will be able to educate other people. I say that because it is hard to know what is involved in being a family carer. I would not have had a clue what family carers did before I had my boys. It is very hard for people to know what is involved in being a family carer, so I appreciate this opportunity to tell our story today. I hope something will come out of this meeting and that improvements can be made for all family carers in Ireland. I thank the committee.