Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. I will say my few words on it. Carers have been abandoned, especially during the Covid pandemic but also since then. They expected something meaningful this year in that they would be linked to other extra payments. They did not get that linkage. They got their once-off payment but that will not bring them very far. The Indecon report said enough. It stated that people with disabilities, as we all know and did not need an Indecon report to tell us, have many extra costs. That should be acknowledged.

I do not know how the Minister can stand over this situation. I do not know how he can stand over an apartheid system within the HSE where section 39 workers are regarded as a different type of worker who can be treated any which way, when there is such money flowing around the HSE. When we have a person with a disability, that individual's capability, ability and what he or she is able to do should be looked at. A number of managers and assessors will come to meet them at significant cost, but a lot of it is pen-pushing. The caring places are so good, such as Scoil Aonghusa and Scoil Chormaic in Cashel. I salute the many national schools and secondary schools that have special rooms for children with autism and everything else.

The CAMHS leave an awful lot to be desired. It is simply outrageous. I passed the Minister a letter this morning, through the usher, from Michael in Clonmel, whose 29-year-old daughter has profound disabilities, regarding the anguish he is going through and the caring he, his wife and their family are giving. There is no joined-up thinking within the services. His other daughter, Jenny, wants to get a housing transfer in order to be quite near him and to have a house in which she can accept and look after her sibling. Her present house has huge steps and is inaccessible. There must be joined-up thinking between the county council housing authority and families like this, who are saving the State an absolute fortune by keeping their loved one out of hospital. At 29 years of age, she is one of the oldest people living with the disability she has had since birth. I salute that family. I ask the Minister to act on it and try to get a sibling transferred to be near and to be able to help her father and mother who are getting old. It can be imagined that since their daughter with disabilities is 29, her father and mother are pushing on in years and have given work and dedication. There are many families like them throughout Tipperary and the country that save the HSE millions and are not treated with the respect they should be, let alone what the patient receives.

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