Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Wards of court is a very important and emotive issue. There are 2,784 wards of court, with 18,504 minors involved in the wards of court system. There is a fund of €2.2 billion. We need urgent clarification from the Minister for Justice. There are families outside the gate today. One woman's husband is in his 80s, her adult son is paraplegic and they are down to €7 of the award they got a long time ago, fadó fadó, in the courts. It is an inadequate system which does not work. The Minister for Justice needs to deal with it. We got information on the figures through the committee. There are some very tragic cases. These people get seriously injured in accidents or whatever but the costs have not been factored in. The money runs out and elderly parents are left to try to look after their very seriously sick children with no funding.

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