Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

More than 68,000 carers in Ireland suffer from depression. That is enough to fill every seat in Croke Park. A large proportion of those carers suffer depression as a result of never getting a break. Every human being needs a break. Even a short break allows us to recharge. This is even more important if one is providing care seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As we know, 6,000 older people nationwide are on a waiting list for home help. Some 180 of those older people live in the constituency of Roscommon-Galway. This problem is compounded by the fact that seven out of ten full-time carers have no access to respite care to give them a vital break. They cannot get a break if they want to go to a family occasion. They cannot even get a few hours off to attend a family funeral. This leaves carers isolated and alone. It leaves them far more prone to getting sick, leading them to be hospitalised themselves, forcing the older person or person with a disability for whom they care into long-term residential care, which has a knock-on impact on the health service and on society as a whole. We need to ensure proper statutory provision for and access to respite care in this country to ensure carers get the opportunity to have that break. Whether it is a break of a few hours every week from providing full-time care to an older person or a break for a family occasion, that access needs to be put in place immediately.

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