Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a timely discussion, given the public meeting held last Monday in Monaghan town which was organised by Family Carers Ireland, in particular, Brigid Finnegan and her wonderful staff across counties Cavan and Monaghan. The meeting included families from as far away as County Louth. The title of the meeting was "Carers in Crisis", which is an indication of how carers feel about the support the system provides. The meeting was attended by parents, siblings and people in their later years who continue to have complete responsibility for adult children with physical and intellectual disabilities. They remain the primary carers and try to provide care within the environs of their own home. They made the point that they did so against the backdrop of many challenges, obstacles and a significant lack of support for them in doing the good they did. They want no more platitudes and do not want to be told that they are the heroes of society. They want action, not words.

Family Carers Ireland provides a huge amount of support for families, but it is done on a shoestring and with limited resources. It provides some financial, emotional and mental health support far beyond what could be expected of an organisation of its type. A number of issues were raised at the meeting. For the information of the Minister of State, I note that tomorrow in Buswells Hotel, Family Carers Ireland is launching a report entitled, Paying the Price for the Physical, Mental and Psychological Impact of Caring. The meeting in Monaghan was two hours long and included families at the coalface of the vocation of caring for loved ones. A number of issues recurred with families sitting around the tables. For them, those two hours were a precious chance to step out of family life and the 24/7 care they provided. It was heart wrenching to hear some of the stories and personal accounts of the challenges carers willingly faced on a daily basis. I wish to raise those issues with the Minister of State.

I have spoken to the Minister of State privately and on the floor of the House about the recently introduced transport charges for those with disabilities who attend day care centres for lunch. While it might only be €5 per day or €20 per week, it amounts to a significant sum at the end of the year for people who have a very small social welfare payment in the first place. Parents, families and the clients of day services feel aggrieved about the charges. Not only are they aggrieved at the actual payment, they are also aggrieved at the lack of consistency around it. Some centres charge the transport fee, while others do not. Those who refuse to pay are never forced to do so, while some people pay it anyway. It is not regularised and there is nothing consistent about it. There has been a flood of parents coming to me at my constituency offices across counties Cavan and Monaghan who are deeply upset at seeing some of the most vulnerable in communities being encumbered with this extra charge for transport and lunches.

People at the meeting spoke to me about an issue I had not come across before. We all know about the difficulty in getting carer's allowance and the protracted bureaucratic process involved. However, a matter which I do not fully understand was explained to me. It is that a certain number of people find that the allowance precludes or in some way inhibits their pension entitlements after a lifetime of caring. The chairperson of the meeting said that across Ireland a number of adults and parents providing care and in receipt of the allowance saw their pension entitlements affected and that something needed to be done about that issue. They assured me that there was a very small number of people in Ireland who fell into that bracket. They say it is something that should be very simple to address. While it is a matter for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, I am sure the Minister of State is in constant touch with the Minister owing to his passion for the area. I ask him to ensure the Department of Health will consider the matter with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

Also raised at the meeting was the lack of ancillary supports. I refer to occupational therapy, physiotherapy and something I had never thought about before, namely, mental health supports for families and carers providing care. Providing care is draining and difficult. It is the constant nature of the job. It is another element of the frustration carers face when they take on the job. There is frustration in seeking occupational therapy and physiotherapy, but there is also frustration in seeking services for carers. We talk a great deal here about mental health and well-being, but carers who are doing a very difficult job, with no clocking out time, need emotional and mental health support. The Minister of State knows well from personal experience that the job is 24/7. I ask him if it is something at which he could look in his Department to see what can be done to provide that support.

People at the meeting discussed regular and emergency respite care services. As the Minister of State knows, the Annalee respite care service in Cavan-Monaghan has been a fiasco for months. The most recent reply from the HSE states that, after the service has been closed for months on end, there is an oil leak which, again, is preventing access. Families racross Cavan-Monaghan have been shut out from receiving any respite care service. It is a major loss to families and parents. In recent weeks the parents' action group in Cootehill held a public meeting to voice their frustration. They must go to great lengths to hold a public meeting, given the pressures on their time and the dependence of their loved ones. Taking the time to come to a public meeting says a great deal about their frustration. The subject of regular and emergency respite care services was also raised at the meeting on carers in crisis. The answer is providing more hours and greater access to respite care. Families say that when they have asked for emergency respite care, the Department has said it fears such a service would be abused. It is a terrible answer to give parents and carers seeking an emergency respite care service. It was explained to me that families could not pick up the phone and rely on any service to provide respite care cover in the case of a family emergency. The feedback I received at the meeting was that there was no way an emergency respite care service could or would ever be abused.

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Therefore, they will be using that service in a limited way and only when it is most necessary. That is, again, something that the Minister of State could delve into and examine. I know there would be significant appreciation for that from carers.

I refer to the home care packages and know that the Minister of State has heard a number of my colleagues across the House raise this issue tonight. In Cavan-Monaghan, we do not seem to be any different from any other area. Somebody has to die before a client who has been allocated a home care package, who has been recognised as being in need of home care and who has qualified for a home care package can get staff in to provide that home care service. The point being made by parents yesterday was that more home care packages are needed, hours and staff are needed and that skilled staff are needed, rather than just lobbing somebody in to do the job. It must be somebody who is appropriate to the clients they are visiting. That is important for these parents and for carers at large.

I have raised the vast bulk of the points that came up yesterday at the public meeting. I encourage the Minister of State again to take time out if he can and go to the launch of their report on the physical, mental and psychological impact of caring. It would be much appreciated and I look forward to working further with him on the issues.

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