Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

There is quite a burden on families for that initial period of rehabilitation in terms of travel and quality of life and often having to spend extended time in Dublin. Also, the waitlist for the NRH is very long at the moment and that can have knock-on impacts on outcomes if there is not timely intervention.

I had the good fortune of working in the Peter Bradley Foundation, now ABI Ireland, for several years in my 20s. This is a service that has transformed the lives of many people with an acquired brain injury, allowing them to live in their community instead of in nursing homes and yet so many people referred to ABI Ireland have to be told by staff that their residential placements are oversubscribed. The organisation was originally set up in Glenageary by Barbara O’Connell because there was no HSE service available to her brother Peter who had sustained an acquired brain injury. Adults who are diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability are still further neglected within our system. They are often in need of intensive support and residential care but they fall between services because some of the services have moderate intellectual disability as their inclusion criteria. Some can spend prolonged periods misplaced in psychiatric settings where their psychological state can deteriorate further resulting in over-medication and tragically some are prematurely placed in nursing-homes. As we know, nursing homes for a young person are a psychological and social dead-end for people with considerable potential for rehabilitation. In May of last year, there was in excess of 1,200 people with disabilities under 65 living in nursing-homes. The Ombudsman, Ger Deering, has warned that Ireland will look back with regret at how it has treated these citizens. His office has authored the report, Wasted Lives: Time for a better future for younger people in Nursing Homes. He has appealed to the Government to increase the funding to implement the recommendations of this report. He said he was "deeply unhappy" with the funding allocated in budget 2025. What commitments will the Minister of State give that would ensure people with an acquired brain injury or intellectual disability will not end up prematurely in nursing homes? Only a small fraction of those people are supported by organisations like ABI Ireland or may get placements with Horizons.