Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving us the opportunity to have this very important conversation. We can use Liam Sheehy's name. He represents an awful lot of other Liams around the country, which is unfortunate. When Covid hit, providers had to be agile in their approach and they made changes to ensure they could deliver services to as many people as possible with the staff they had. Time has moved on in respect of Bandon. I met the CEO of the Cope Foundation only recently. His real challenge is in recruitment of staff. We met Gobnait Ní Chrualaoí of CoAction as well. Her challenge is staff. That is not an excuse but the real, hard reality.

It is not right to displace any person from his or her community into another community when he or she has built up relationships and got to know people. No stone can be left unturned to ensure Liam can return to his rightful place in Clonakilty. When we are doing that, we are also displacing others. At the same time, we have to be the advocates for persons with disabilities. They sometimes do not have that voice. These are their homes and what they know. We would not do it to a person who had the ability to articulate for themselves. There would be a protest on the streets if we were moving people out of their homes and relocating them to different hubs. I will leave no stone unturned for any Liam around the country. I have exactly the same problem further down in the Beara Breifne Way, as the Deputy is aware, where we have relocated three people out of their home in order to make it work for their provider. We have to make it work for the person with disabilities. We have to acknowledge their needs, their home. It is their picture, their chair that they sit in, their bed that they go to bed in.

We have not forgotten that but we had to work in a pandemic. Now, as Omicron and Covid are subsiding, I have no doubt that everyone of my providers will leave no stone unturned because they have the person with a disability at heart. I have no doubt that Cope will work with us to ensure that Liam is returned to the service in Clonakilty and all his other colleagues are as well. We also have a problem with the hub in Macroom for our school leavers. I have no doubt the Cope Foundation will ensure that the hub in Macroom will open now the works have been done on it, and that the school leavers, who have not had a full opportunity to participate as school leavers transitioning into that space, will be able to access that service.

The topic the Deputy has raised has a real human side to it. It is a person's home, what he or she knows and his or her community. I will work with the Deputy to ensure it happens.

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