Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Many of my questions have been asked and answered. I thank the witnesses for their excellent presentation. We all know someone who is looking for support or have family members looking for support. I will ask about mental health supports available for people with intellectual disabilities living in the community, independently or semi-independently. What additional supports would be helpful? Funding is a huge issue and we are all aware of that, but we really need to look at it.

From our meetings with all the different groups that have appeared before the committee, I know about the experience of people with disabilities, but there are no data on groups. What are the data on the different groups people attend? Do the witnesses work with the different groups?

There are challenges. I work with families all the time in which a mother might have had to give up work to stay at home with a child who might have an intellectual disability. They do not qualify for carer's allowance because of an income that is over the means-test threshold. We should not be doing that. That has affected many families in recent years. I talk to families every day. We need to do something about that. Through no fault of their own, they need to stay at home with a child, an elderly person or other family member. They might apply for carer's allowance, but if they are in any way over the threshold, they will not qualify. It does not make sense. Many of the families tell me they have mortgages and other bills to pay and they do not know how they will cope.

We need to look at what the system can do to support families, people with disabilities and the different agencies that need support. All the families I work with in County Carlow are excellent. We have all the different groups including Carlow Special Olympics Club and Down Syndrome Carlow. The families are very involved in the different areas and give up their time two or three nights a week. Social outlets are important for people with disabilities. They have their friends they want to meet. It is all about interacting and meeting their friends. People are good, but there is a lack of funding, awareness and education. What do we need to do to support the families who need that support? When people come to me, especially about trying to get carer's allowance, it is hard.

Something important was said here today. I hope we have learned from our past when people with intellectual disabilities were segregated from their communities. We have to move on. It is great that people are living longer. However, while we have done great work - I am aware of the work the Ministers of State, Deputies Butler and Rabbitte, have done - the system is not able to cope as well as it should with the different areas.

I thank the witnesses. We are all passionate. My nephew has Down's syndrome. I am his godmother and he is the apple of my eye, as he is of his family. Every family has a story and we need to support them.