Ms Caroline Walker-Strong:

I might respond to the question on school exclusion, reduced timetables and expulsion. Our members would be really concerned about that. One of the things we called for was better strategies and supports to protect families and be able to work through it. That is an approach that the school needs to take because the supports are not there. This is no blame - schools are working under incredible pressure and do not have the supports at times, but the impact of that is on the family at home because the child is then at home for longer times.

We will engage with the HSE in the coming weeks regarding respite. We have sent our position statement to it looking for a tiered approach to respite. People think respite is often residential. It may not be. It could be weekend access, evening access, homework clubs and those types of things. If a child has to go on a reduced timetable or there is an expulsion, there should be another option. It should not just be one and done. There should be another option available to families to access if they get that dreaded call from the school about reducing the timetable. Parents have to agree to the reduced timetable, which, from listening to members, a lot of them do not really understand and feel as if it is foisted on them. We would welcome an expansion of respite care. We are meeting with the chief social worker and some of the disability team in the HSE in the coming weeks regarding tiered access. We will be looking at those pieces that are day to day, the weekends, evening clubs and summertime access for children to maintain some kind of structure over the summer.

There are some children who will need residential care because the complexity of their needs are such that it is very difficult to manage in the community in any kind of wraparound way. I know we are moving away from the decongregated, which is correct and right, but there are still some children who require that. We need a suite of care for those children. We also need there to be that step-down piece. It may be for a period that a family requires their child to go into residential care, but there is very little oversight in terms of bringing a child back home. Their needs will change as they grow and mature. There may be an option to bring a child back home, but it is a different system to the Tusla system where there is a statutory obligation for that to happen. We will be looking for more of an expansion for that in order that there is a statutory mechanism and an allocated social worker to review those cases. Things may have changed at home and other children in the house may have gone to college. It is about looking at this and seeing what can happen there and what supports can be put in. I am aware there is a piece today on RTÉ about ageing parents.