Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Deputy Daly has given a really good example that we would have all had. I have parents coming to me in my constituency office of an older disabled child wondering what is going to happen to their child when they pass away. We cannot answer that question but we know they will be housed. It will become an emergency situation, which is not good. There is no clarity for the parents. That is why this national disability strategy will be so important.

It will not just be a strategy. It is about transitions and there is work under way. When I was in special education, for example, transitioning from a special school or secondary school, if you have a disability, to education and to work - this is all related to what the Deputy is saying - somebody is not just in day care or residential after he or she reaches the age of 18 where he or she just falls off the cliff. We need to be working earlier with young people so that they are transitioning into whatever it is they choose, for example, a job. We have done work on the employment wage subsidy recently with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary. This comes back in to every Department working on this where we are incentivising employers to employ people with disabilities and provide the supports there for them.

We need to be forward planning in relation to residential care because we are all growing older. I am telling Deputy Daly things he knows well. We may all acquire a disability in time. People are living longer and we are not out of the woods in relation to that. We need to be looking at our housing for older people that will accommodate us all, including people with disabilities. As part of our special committee on disability, the Minister for housing is present. What I would like to see, for example, as we are building new estates, is that a part of those estates will be allocated for people with disabilities. This is the forward planning needed for service providers, who have the data, know who is coming down the track and know there will be a certain amount of independent living accommodation required in their particular area, that they could be planning now and we could be funding it now, and not putting it out always to the private sector where it is far more costly in many instances.

To answer Deputy Daly's question in a roundabout way, he is absolutely on the money in relation to what needs to happen. Transitions from primary to secondary, the special school, the day centre into training will be important. Respite, giving parents a break, will be important too because sometimes it falls apart because they are burnt out and they have not had even the respite and overnights.

This is the whole-of-government approach that we need to fund as part of this strategy. I would be happy to work with the Deputy in relation to particular issues that, as I know, are live right across the country.