Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a funding crisis in disability services at the moment. Younger people and older people with disabilities and their families and teachers are being very much let down. My colleague, Deputy Micheál Martin, raised the issue relating to problems in education and the Joint Committee on Education and Skills has shone a light on reduced timetables. In early intervention, the supports and resources that are needed are falling down and people are not getting them.

The issue I want to raise was highlighted to me on Monday by CARE and Muiríosa services in Kildare and relates to the residential spaces that are needed, as well as to respite care. One mother, a widow, told me her child needs a 2:1 ratio in the services they use. There also needs to be a special bus with a driver and companion but this lady is left without any respite outside the time her daughter is in the service. In another family, the dad is 90 and the mum in her mid- to late 80s. They have a daughter with intellectual disability and with huge behavioural issues. These families and many more are living in fear but they feel huge guilt for telling me, or any Member, about the situation they are in as they feel they are letting down their son or daughter by talking about the situation. This is an absolute crisis and it needs to be dealt with. I would like to hear what the Taoiseach's proposals are.

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