Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a serious issue with respite provision but this question focuses on residential placements. It surprised me when I did some digging that the HSE could not provide any data on the number of people on a waiting list for residential placement nationally, so I started to probe the issue locally. In Cork alone, between the Cope Foundation and the Brothers of Charity, two outstanding service providers, there are 252 adults and children on a waiting list for a residential placement. The Cope Foundation has 175 of those and 27 of them are deemed to be priority 1. They are critically urgent cases.

There are situations where elderly parents, who are not getting any younger and who have medical needs themselves, are caring for adult children who, in some cases, have very high dependency needs. It is becoming incredibly difficult for them and they are just about coping day by day. They need to know there is light at the end of the tunnel but they are being told by their service provider there is no hope. They might be 30th or 40th on a local waiting list and the service is not even getting enough funding to clear the emergency cases. That is what they are being told.

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