Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

A few days ago I watched a heart-breaking RTÉ report in which a couple said that they did not know what would happen to their special needs daughter if they died before her. They said no parent ever wants to bury their child but the reality is that they dread what would happen, not if but when, they cannot simply manage. That is an experience for many families across the country.

Another person emailed my office in recent days to inform me that the early intervention services for their three-year old son are non-existent. They explained their son is non-verbal and is not walking. They feel the lack of disability services is having a huge impact on his well-being. The early years of a child are so important, even more so for a child with a disability.

It is not acceptable that highly skilled therapists have been redeployed to Covid-19 testing. I understand that move in the initial stages may be necessary but six months later it is unacceptable. This is a big waste of training skills and experience.

Another woman I know with Down's syndrome with whom I have been working used to have full-time day services. They disappeared for many months. The services have now returned but it is two days one week and three days the next. I know another two women in my constituency who have Down's syndrome but are only getting six hours a week. Another woman who is in residential care has no services provided. There is no stimulation, development or interaction. All of these services have either collapsed, disappeared or are working under par. This is wrong.

Right through the summer, my office was inundated with parents who, because of the Covid restrictions, had a son or daughter who was not getting the services they needed. They saw significant regression in their children's abilities and engagements with the rest of the world. For any individual, that is a difficult situation in which to be. For a parent watching this happen, it is incredibly heart breaking to have to experience it, as well as the physical demands the extra care they have to give takes as well.

What I could never understand in this process is that we could get our hair cut in this country and be in the physical space of a hairdresser, yet a person with a disability who needed to be in the physical space of a therapist, consultant, doctor, nurse or somebody working with Prosper or any of these fine organisations could not be in such a space. It did not make sense that such essential services were being denied while other people could get other simple services such as getting their hair cut.

An issue I have raised over the last six months right through this crisis is that the Government have made decisions to reorientate resources in this country away from the health services towards Covid. It did that on the blind and, at the outset, in response to a crisis that nobody knew how big, difficult and dangerous it was going to be. It was a fire that was rolling across Europe in our direction. It was a natural response back then but during the summer from July, August and September onwards, there is no doubt in my mind that we could have reapplied and reorientated those services back to where they needed to be and that simply did not happen. It still has not happened and there is a radical cost to that. What really drives me nuts is that the Government has made no effort to measure that cost in any way. The British, in fairness to them, have done significant studies with regard to the physical and mental health costs and the costs with regard to disabilities and the health services. In their view, the non-Covid costs could far exceed the Covid costs by the end of this. It is only when you have that level of evidence that you can make evidence-based decisions. Right now, we are not making evidence-based decisions with regard to the orientation of resources.

I welcome the motion that has been tabled and I appeal to the Minister to support the motion with regard to extra funding in the first instance and to make sure that when we take services away, we know the damage and cost it is doing in order that we can bring those services back in time for the families that need them.

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