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

I welcome the Minister's statement and I again acknowledge his commitment, as well as the extra funding. Drumcar is not doing what the HSE and the parents wish it to do and that is why the intervention of the Department is essential. The HSE has assured me there is adequate funding to provide respite needs, which are required by two of the families to which I have referred. It is not acceptable that an adult can be in a bed for three weeks and is need of respite care for another week but is sent into a private nursing home. It is totally inappropriate and it is equally inappropriate that a person under 18 then takes that service. Extra respite facilities need to be opened in Drumcar.

The person in the HSE who deals with this is actually on holiday at the moment but I spoke to them about this earlier and they said they were prepared to initiate any funding that might be available. I cannot speak for this person but I can speak for the families. They are deeply concerned and deeply distressed. I acknowledge that the Minister's brief is to move people out of Drumcar and into community settings but these people are already in the community. They are not getting the service they received for many years. One mother said to me that the respite care she had been receiving for her son for 40 years was no longer available to her. The mother who rang me about this said she was at her wits' end and could not cope with looking after her adult child at home for three months with promises of respite care having been broken not once, but twice. I urge the Minister to ensure the promise is not broken a third time. I have every confidence in his capacity to intervene and to take on board the points I am making.

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