Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

During the previous lockdown people with disabilities, special needs children and adults, were left behind, and now, as we face into another lockdown, they are still left behind. I wish to speak about a mother who contacted me. I raised this here on 21 September, and now it is 21 October and there is still no sign of a place for her adult child. She went to Scoil Chormaic in Cashel, an excellent school. They do great work there, but there is no place for her child because the Brothers of Charity, who want to give the child a place, cannot get the funding from the HSE. There are many young adults and children with disabilities totally sidelined and marginalised. Their parents and carers are at their wits' end because these young adults and children need the stimulation of a school trip or school visit and the whole engagement and work that goes on there. I salute the front-line workers, but this is shocking, and the Taoiseach knows it. The HSE has dragged its feet all along and is not fit for purpose. People are being left behind and they are the most marginalised of all.

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