Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the subject of respite care today and thank the Independent Group for providing that opportunity. The importance of respite care should not be underestimated and in fairness, I think its importance is recognised by politicians from all sides. Despite the best will or good intentions of the politicians in charge, however, we must accept that there are huge problems with the system as it currently is. These problems are noted in the motion. There is an unacceptable number of people on waiting lists for essential respite services. There was an increased workload on carers with less support and respite during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has impacted on the well-being of carers and persons requiring care on an ongoing basis. There is a significant human cost for those affected by the closure of respite services as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and there are ongoing acute levels of unmet needs.

Family carers are hugely important people whose contribution has been undervalued for too long. I had a recent visit with a family carer in County Wexford who told me she had been quoted a cost of €550,000 for residential care for one year. Let us not, therefore, underestimate the value of the family carer. People caring for loved ones in need of constant care and support provide a tough and draining devotion from both a physical and mental point of view. The constant commitment to this work under the most strenuous of situations is admirable and, in some cases, heartbreaking. Carers live their lives vicariously through their more in-need loved ones. We all know those in receipt of care can have a variety of different needs and may require care of different intensity.

A press release from the Department of Social Protection published in early June indicated that there are 121,000 family carers in Ireland. There are likely to be many more who perform the functions of a family carer without being officially recognised as such. I also note that the Department of Social Protection announced some positive steps recently, including an increase in the capital disregard for carers from €20,000 to €50,000, an increase in the weekly income disregard for carer’s allowance to €350 for a single person and €750 for a couple and the receipt by 121,000 carers and their families of the €1,850 annual carer’s support grant. These are all welcome supports but we must always ask ourselves whether anything more can be done.

That particular statement from the Minister for Social Protection refers to the tough position in which carers were placed during the Covid-19 restrictions when respite care was suspended for so many people who relied on it so much. I sincerely hope that approach is never repeated. As with so many things when it came to Covid-19, the decisions made at the time have consequences. Many service users regressed so much during Covid-19 that they will no longer leave their homes. Not only does respite care benefit the carers but it also provides variety and professional care to the person in need of the care. The removal of that support will have created stressful situations for all involved.

As we can see, this motion calls on the Government to do a number of different things. I will comment on some of them. It calls on the Government to immediately reinstate all respite beds closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a complete scandal that Covid-19 resulted in respite beds remaining closed despite all Covid restrictions being removed. How has this happened? How has this been allowed to happen? What is the Government going to do to solve the problem? When will the problem be solved? We need answers to these questions and immediate action to reinstate any beds that remain closed.

The motion seeks to undertake a comprehensive audit of respite services funded in whole or in part by the Health Service Executive to establish the current provision of respite beds and level of unmet need. This is absolutely critical. Whatever waiting lists exist must be cleared. Why is it that we cannot seem to provide a service without a waiting list of some description? In order for this problem to be solved, it is first necessary to establish the extent of the problem. It must be done immediately. Respite is vital to the mental well-being of carers and I cannot stress this enough.

The motion seeks to provide the funding required to ensure ongoing and sustainable capacity in respite services. I mentioned the other day, when talking about special educational needs, the constant battles people face every year to secure supports for their children. A similar situation appears to exist in the respite sector. Ongoing and sustainable capacity must be ensured. We cannot have families operating day-to-day, not knowing from one week to the next whether their supports will be there.

The motion calls on the Government to ratify the optional protocol to the UNCRPD. According to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, the Government decided in 2018 not to implement the optional protocol that allows disabled people to make individual complaints to the UN. The Government said it would ratify it in 2020 when it had made its first report to the UN. It is now 2022 and there is still no sign of this being ratified. Perhaps the Minister of State could outline the current status of that plan and provide a timeframe for its ratification.

Another important issue related to the area of care is the pension situation. The programme for Government refers to a pension solution for carers. I have raised this issue a number of times in sessions on promised legislation, as have many other Deputies. We are now more than two years into the term of this Government. The magic money tree has been shaken for so many wasteful causes yet carers are still without a pension solution. When will this be sorted out? When are we going to even hear an update on it? Any responses to questions to date have been sorely lacking in detail and targets or dates.

An RTÉ report today and yesterday stated that the number of HSE employees being paid more than €500,000 per year has doubled from three to six. This would be justifiable in an organisation that was operating efficiently.

It is totally unacceptable for an organisation that is in such disarray as the HSE is. The money used to pay those obscene salaries could be put to better use by getting people respite care and getting them off the waiting list. Carers are the people who are most in need.

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