Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I have a few issues to raise. On respite, when the Minister of State came into office she indicated that nine additional respite centres were going to be established. Are they all operational? Can the Minister of State give us an update on the situation? I was talking to someone recently who said more than 83 families were denied respite for four years because of two back-to-back emergencies being left in the respite centre. Can we have a system where that does not happen? I know it did not just happen in this one centre. In this case more than 80 families were affected adversely.

Turning to section 39 organisations and pay parity, does the Minister of State have an update on this issue? How will it be addressed? We are talking about day services and increasing their number. This is needed. Many of those organisations, however, cannot recruit or retain staff because of the issues of pay parity and multi-annual funding. Both those issues need to be addressed.

The Minister of State indicated previously that a register for disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, would be drawn up. Is there an update on that? What stage is it at?

People with intellectual disabilities are often forgotten when it comes to housing in that people age and may have no choice as to where they live. They might live with aged parents, putting a lot of strain on them. Younger people are being put into nursing homes because there is a lack of availability of either accessible housing or supported living. There is a report in one of today's newspapers that 32 people a month are going into nursing homes, or one a day. That is not fair. It is not giving them a choice and it is in contravention of the UNCRPD.

There are still huge issues with the children’s disability network teams, CDNTs. People in my constituency cannot get the supports they require from the CDNT. One parent was looking for psychological treatment for her son because he is displaying behavioural issues and he was referred for a cognitive assessment, which he did not need. The mother said they availed of it because it might help him to get a school place, but she needs support and has had none. She is at breaking point, and she is not the only one. Many people are in the same position. The Minister of State referred to assistant posts but therapists are needed in the CDNTs. The family are even looking into private practice, where operators are paid substantial sums to carry out assessments outside of the CDNTs, which suggests the system is broken. What can be done to address that?