Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Members for their very helpful and supportive contributions. I was more hopeful at the beginning than at the end of the Minister of State's contribution. The tabling of this motion was an attempt to put a spotlight on the situation relating to respite, the dreadful situation on the ground and the inconsistency from county to county. Deputy Sherlock talked about recruitment issues. I agree with him but there is a bigger and more fundamental problem, which is there is no recognition of the essential nature of the service provided by respite. It is simply not there. Some 3% of the budget goes to it.

I will be parochial and mention Galway in order to illustrate the point. I am receiving texts on an ongoing basis regarding somebody in Galway. I will not go into the details. There are no respite services at Merlin Park University Hospital for the family in question. This is a hospital that sits on 150 acres, where there is lots of space and many buildings, but has only six respite beds for a city the size of Galway. I have just been informed that Carrowroe has no respite beds, which I knew, but it will have no respite beds in the future because of some plan to move them all into Merlin Park. We are talking about a huge county and we are also talking about the Irish language.

I tabled this motion to try to put a spotlight on this matter. I thank all the Deputies for their support for it. In putting that spotlight on it, let me just compare the lovely words with which the Minister of State concluded his speech with the reality on the ground. All respite was cancelled - we have all acknowledged that - in March 2020 due to the pandemic. In a reply to a question relating to Galway, it was stated that infection prevention control requirements meant that respite could not continue to be provided in some units post pandemic; we do not know how many. Waiting lists were not maintained so we do not know who is waiting. We were then told respite is prioritised based on need and date of application from the clinical practitioner since the beginning of 2022. There are no waiting lists now because they were cancelled. There are six beds in Merlin Park so, no matter what a clinician says, no respite beds are available.

If we look at that in the context of an answer I got in October 2021, the breakdown of the waiting lists for three agencies in Galway indicated 94 adults were waiting more than four years for respite, 36 were waiting two to three years and 31 were waiting 18 to 24 months. Between another two agencies, 19 children were waiting more than four years for respite, 11 were waiting two to three years and six were waiting 12 to 18 months. I made a decision earlier not to go into the minutiae. I am ending up doing so because of the overall spin that comes out from the Department, and through Ministers, regarding what is happening on the ground. We have a serious difficulty with the absence of respite beds and an equally serious difficulty with the spin around that.

I do not mean to be parochial in any way even though I am using Galway as an example. This motion requests an audit for the whole country. The Minister of State gave us figures of thousands of hours provided in respite services. This means nothing to the person who cannot get respite in Galway for one week in July, notwithstanding he or she is caring 24 hours around the clock. I do not expect the Minister of State to answer me in the Chamber. I ask him to at least recognise why this motion was necessary. It asks for one basic thing: an audit to be urgently carried out to find out what services are available to see whether they are meeting the need, not to mention the unmet need that has been clearly set out.

The capacity review I referred to, along with the 2018 health service capacity review, stated it was unsustainable for hospitals to go on the way they were and that we needed community care. That is what Sláintecare states. Respite is one tiny part of that. Yet, I read out information regarding horrific waiting lists in Galway city, and Merlin Park having six beds with a promise of 13 some time in August or July, depending on staff and the person who is addressing it. I accept the Government is not opposing my motion and that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, said she was very open to doing an audit relating to her area. She was also going to speak to the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the overall audit. An audit is the most basic ingredient before we can have a planned service. It is also a step towards honesty and recognising that we are not providing respite care.

I also requested as part of the motion that we look at rented buildings because it is money going astray. This has been repeated not just by me but the agencies and service providers in Galway that are spending millions on rent to provide respite, among other services, with no security of tenure. It is a complete waste of money that is due to the Government's approach to capital projects as opposed to revenue and rental projects.

We need a date for the optional protocol. I realise that certain ingredients have to be put into the mix and that we are working on those. However, we need a date for the signing of the optional protocol, if we are seriously committed to planning for and giving services on a human rights basis.

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