Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and I very much appreciate the interest he has taken in the issues relating to disability that have arisen in my constituency and which I have raised with him. St. Mary's in Drumcar is run by the St. John of God's order and for many years there has been an excellent relationship between the staff and the order and, indeed, the users. However, as Drumcar moves into a transition phase, going from a congregated setting to different alternative living for those who will become their former residents, its budget is still very significant. I understand it is around €24 million per year.

The Minister of State can imagine my concerns when in the last few weeks I have had a number of constituents ringing me, all of them regretfully in tears and very upset, looking for an increased level of care in terms of the respite their family members need. Their family members, in each case, have an intellectual disability. One of them occupies a respite bed in St. Mary's in Drumcar for three weeks and then on the fourth week of the month they are forced to leave that respite bed in the proper place and to go to a private nursing home, notwithstanding the excellence of care there. It is inappropriate and unacceptable to the family and, indeed, to the person who is in that bed, because they leave their familiar surroundings and they are put into an entirely inappropriate place with people who are much older than them. Some of those people are in their 90s, while the person I am talking about is in their 40s. When the person's mother is on the phone and she is crying and upset, one says this is not good enough. That is followed by another mother, who is concerned about a family member whom she looks after at home. Every three months the family member gets excellent respite in St. Mary's, Drumcar, but it keeps being cancelled. It was cancelled the week before last and I rang up and asked what was happening with this person, then it was cancelled again last week. People who are getting older are unable to continue without the reasonable respite that Drumcar has always offered them. That is another case.

I also have another member of a different family who has an adult with intellectual disabilities and is unable to get an appropriate and proper medical appointment and assessment for them due to behavioural issues which arise in terms of their disability and their inability to communicate. In fact, there are many difficulties in the house because the person with disabilities has increasing anxieties and concerns and needs to be properly looked after. All of them have been brought to the attention of Drumcar and to the attention of the HSE. To date, they remain unresolved.

Will the Minister of State look at the issue, not just the cases of the people who have come to me, but the wider issue of the emerging needs in our communities? As the institutions close, continuing professional respite and help for these people must be available. It is very important to families who look after their loved ones. I am talking about people in their 60s, 70s and 80s who are looking after their children as they grow older, still with concern for them. They love and care for their families and they just feel the State is neglecting them in this hour of need.

When one contrasts the tremendous work of the staff and the community of St. John of God's with the scandal of the under-the-table payments to senior executives that were announced recently, it is absolutely unacceptable that this can happen. I have no doubt that the Minister of State will intervene immediately and urgently, so that the care these people need comes first and always first. These people must be looked after and I look forward to the Minister of State's response and, indeed, his actions. I know they will be appropriate, but it is unacceptable that the scandal of payments under the counter would continue.

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