Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will recall that I raised the crisis in respite care with him last Wednesday following the RTÉ "Carers in Crisis" programme. During Leaders' Questions, I made a modest proposal to increase respite care hours by 20%, which would cost €13 million. I also proposed that the Government should provide 2 million additional home-help hours and 2,500 home-care packages at a cost of €72 million. The Taoiseach committed to examine these proposals. I then wrote to him setting these out in more detail. I have yet to receive a reply but I hope that is an indication that he is still considering these proposals. It would make a meaningful long-term difference to the lives of people with disabilities.

Yesterday the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, announced that he had secured an additional €10 million for respite services, which I welcome, particularly as some of it will be allocated to my constituency. According to the 2016 census, more than 20,000 people in Louth and east Meath have a disability. They also have less services than other parts of the State. Only nine respite beds are available for adults with intellectual disabilities and there are no emergency services. The Government needs to do a lot of work to rectify this. The new services announced yesterday need to be put in place go gasta. The details of a plan need to be revealed as quickly as possible. The HSE was not able to give us any details this morning.

Yesterday's announcement was long overdue. Some of it is deficient. For example, only one in four full-time carers will be eligible for a free GP-visit card as announced yesterday. That is because the card will be given only to carers in receipt of the carer's allowance. All of these carers should be allocated medical cards.

Last week my proposition included the provision of home-help hours and home-care packages. There is no mention of this in yesterday's announcement. Perhaps the Taoiseach will get around to this when he eventually gets around to answering my letter. As a doctor, I am sure the Taoiseach is aware the issue of in-home respite hours is crucial for some families. On a number of occasions I have raised with the him the case of Brendan, who has not got any in-home respite hours in the past five months. Incidentally, he got a total of 15 nights' respite in the past year. In another case, Sam, whose mother the Taoiseach has met, has not got respite care since he turned 18. When will they be able to get their respite care? I ask the Taoiseach to outline the timetable for the services announced yesterday. When will he respond to my other proposals?

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