Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to bring the disgraceful lack of respite places in County Louth to the Minister of State's attention today. Last year, the acute lack of proper respite facilities in Louth reached a crisis point. Families in my area are suffering from ongoing unacceptable distress as the crisis continues to escalate. I am aware that the Minister of State has been contacted by many of the families and care groups. Let me outline some of the severe hardship cases that my office and other Deputies in Louth are dealing with. Most important, I ask the Minister of State to provide the funding for a facility that has been identified to provide care for 30 people. It would cost €800,000 to provide care for 30 people per annum. The service provider Praxis Care is ready to provide the service, and a premises has been identified. It just needs confirmation from the HSE that the funding will be provided. The facility could be operational within three to four months. The service would provide respite to young adults in Louth, Meath, the north midlands and north Dublin. The premises identified is just off the M1 in Drogheda.

I want to give some examples of the extreme hardship the families are going through without access to respite care for their loved ones. A family with a severely disabled 26 year old daughter has been looking for respite care for three years now. Her mother rang up giving four months' notice to get four nights' respite for a trip planned for her wedding anniversary. The family was told immediately there was none available even though ample notice had been given. She was not able to get respite in May to enable her to attend her granddaughter's Holy Communion. Recently, the family was granted two nights, which was not enough time in which to plan anything meaningful. Two nights is not enough of a break for the family. The mother said she was too exhausted to do anything with the time.

She is distraught. There is another mother who has an 18-year old son and she is very conscious that as yet there are no specific plans in place for how adult respite will be delivered to her son. She is aware of many other families in the same predicament. Her son continues to display high-risk and challenging behaviour. Respite is a complete lifeline to them and they are extremely worried and worn out.

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