Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Earlier this week some 17 leading NGOs came together to brief Deputies and make the compelling case for greater investment in home care and community supports as part of budget 2017. The picture painted by the NGOs is of a system approaching crisis point. Their stories cannot be ignored. Consider, for example, Moira Skelly who cares full-time for her daughter Ciara, a 21 year old woman with autism and profound disabilities. Ciara has a mental age of two and requires 24 hour care. Moira has received a mere six hours of community supports and home care. In recent months this allocation has been cut further to four hours making life exceptionally difficult for Ciara and cutting off this lifeline for her mother. Consider also Sinead McArdle from Louth who was diagnosed with MS in 2005. Due to her condition she had to give up her full-time job. She has been refused home care support by the State and because of this her husband now has had to go part-time in his job in order to care for Sinead, putting the family under huge financial pressure as well as medical pressure.

In all our constituencies Members are receiving frequent calls from people with disabilities or from frail elderly people who have been approved for home care packages but, because of the funding cuts in this area, are being put on a long waiting list . It is incredible that people who meet the qualification criteria for a full home care package are put on a waiting list. People with severe disabilities and people in their eighties and nineties cannot wait three, six or nine months to receive the kind of support they require to live life with dignity. We also know of many families whose loved ones have no choice but to remain in a hospital bed because funding is not available to allow them to return home safely.

We know that these are not isolated cases. They are arising all the time and with increased frequency. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment to prioritise funding in this area in the upcoming budget?

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