Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues said at the start that there was an obligation on Government and on this House to provide for the needs, rights and entitlements of people with physical or intellectual disabilities. There is a need for resources for those provisions. The resources for those provisions are also an obligation on the Government. There is an obligation to provide respite care, especially for families most in need in many parts of the State who do not have the necessary respite care. There is an obligation to provide residential services and long-term residential services in congregated settings.

At the back of all of this is the right to equality for all our citizens. I wish to raise the case of four families in my constituency who are in need of a residential service for four adults who attend Ashfield House. These adults are living at home with their ageing parents or with siblings. Each person has very complex care and medical needs, profound intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities. They are in need of ongoing care. This has been a huge struggle for their parents. Gerard is 39 years of age. He had been cared for by his mother and father, and now it is just his mother. Kathleen is 45 years of age. Her mother and father, Marian and Jer, are full-time carers and she is living at home. Colm is 37 years of age and his mother, Ann, cares for him. George is 37 years of age and is cared for by his two sisters, Ann and Saoirse. These families had a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, and the Kerry Deputies. During that meeting we were led to believe that the Minister of State would come to the constituency to ensure there would be full-time residential care for those four people. I am sure this need can be mirrored throughout the State, especially for elderly parents who have spent their entire lives looking after their very dependent children with disabilities as they grow into adulthood. These parents are now coming to the end of their lives and they have no sense of how their loved ones will be cared for after their passing. I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will be coming to the Listowel area in the near future. I hope he, using the resources provided by Government and by the Department, will be able to take away the huge worry of those people and give them some comfort for what remains of their lives.

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