Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am contacted regularly about the lack of respite services in counties Cavan and Monaghan. Currently, respite services for both adults and children are provided in Annalee View, a respite centre in Cootehill, County Cavan. However, because adults and children cannot be facilitated together, the services are provided on alternating weeks, that is, adults one week and children the next. It is not sufficient to deal with the large number of people who require respite services throughout the two counties, so there is a need for at least two centres. Two in each county would be brilliant. I acknowledge that Steadfast House, in Carrickmacross, provides respite as well, but there is demand for its other services.

What plans are there to expand the existing level of respite in both counties? When Annalee View was closed for repair some years ago, for quite some time, for a while no respite services were offered at all. Then Killygowan respite service was opened. At full capacity it could facilitate only five people. I think during Covid that number was reduced to two. Again, it operated on an alternating basis, with children one week and adults the next. When Annalee View was reopened, why was it not designated for children, say, and the other centre, Killygowan House, kept open for adults? So many individuals are refused respite due to the increasing numbers of individuals seeking to avail of the services. Some have been informed that the service does not cater for those with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities. All individuals with intellectual disabilities should be entitled to respite care if they feel they need it.

In a reply to a recent parliamentary question it was indicated to me that there are plans to provide separate centres for children and adults in CHO 1. A submission is being made for funding to support those plans. However, the reply did not answer the question I asked, which was specifically about Cavan and Monaghan. It gave the information for just the CHO area in general. I want to know specifically what plans there are to provide additional respite services in those two counties and how far along those proposed services are.

I receive many queries about respite services from families, and they are at the end of their tether. These are families who have children sometimes with disabilities that are quite complex. They were in receipt of respite services before Covid, but that has not been resumed, or certainly not to the extent that they were receiving it prior to March 2020.

Many families need a break so that they can perhaps do some other activity with other children in the family or they just need some time for themselves. Children with complex disabilities might need a break from the family home too. Respite should be arranged in conjunction with the child to ensure that not only is the child properly and well cared for, but that he or she is interested in the activities provided in order that respite is enjoyable and the child looks forward to maybe going back and repeating it a few weeks later or whatever.

I am also contacted regularly by aged parents who may have adult children with disabilities living with them. They should be living independently but often they are on the local authority housing waiting list for houses for up to ten years and no supports are being put in. There were moves, and that is improving, but we still have a situation where there are adult children with some complex disabilities living at home with aged parents and they both need a break - the adult needs a break from the home situation and the parents need a break.

To repeat my questions, are what plans are there to expand existing services in Cavan and Monaghan and what is the timeframe for the expansion?

See this speech in context