Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Many people have been affected by the Covid lockdown. We referred to some of them today. There is a cohort of young men and women with intellectual disabilities. There are a couple in my parish. One story about little Jack was shared on Facebook on Sunday. It is heart-rending. I welcome the July provision but this cohort of people does not have anything, even trips to their special schools on the bus with their carers. I salute everybody involved on boards of management, workers and teaching staff. Can the Government or the Minister with responsibility for disability do something for this cohort of people who are profoundly affected? They are incarcerated in their houses and need to be able to get out to interact with others who go to those special schools. They are severely impacted. We see self-harm and a significant regression of the progress that they have made in those special schools and with special tuition. They need support immediately. They have been incarcerated for too long and they are trapped.

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