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

The mater I tabled for discussion specifically related to respite stays which, obviously, go hand in hand with the home care package issue. The situation in Kildare is appalling. There are families in crisis there. Numbers given for the CHO 7 area show they have gone down from 7,064 hours in 2015 to 5,808 hours in 2018. That is despite all of the different calls for this to be increased. I recently met representatives from the Muiríosa Foundation in Monasterevin and the KARE organisation in Newbridge. I was shocked, appalled, upset and emotional when I heard the stories of the families which the two organisations help. I met one mother at one of those meetings, a widow from my area. Her 19 year old daughter needs to have two people to collect her in a separate bus to bring her to her day care centre. She needs to be in an isolated room while there. She is then brought back home but her mother has no other help, support or means of respite. It is a shocking indictment of our system to not have supports for families the way we should.

Fianna Fáil fought really hard to get extra funding in the recent budget for respite services. Even with the funding put in, it will only bring it back to 2015 levels. Much more is needed.

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