Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will also be known for my brevity. Yes, I will agree to meet the family concerned. I will also take this matter up, before I meet with the family, if the Deputy will give me the case details. While he may feel this just applies to the Cavan-Monaghan region, as far as I am concerned, it is hard to believe and credit in the 21st century that the behavioural barrier is still in place in a lot of places around the country. Depending on the particular provider or organisation, its mission statement might be that it only supports individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities but does not stipulate that it will support children who have behavioural issues. Recently myself and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle read an article from Galway regarding a family who needed access to respite. We know the value of respite. Respite can never ever be underestimated in its value to support a family. Deputy Carthy's area of Cavan-Monaghan is quite an anomaly in the context of the country.

Children's respite care is provided every second week for both counties out of one building, the Annalee View Respite Centre. I cannot fault the staff there but they can only do it every second week. It is my ambition to address the lack of children's respite care in the Cavan and Monaghan area. The Deputy happens to be in community healthcare organisation, CHO 1, which covers a large number of counties. It covers Leitrim, Donegal and Sligo as well as Cavan and Monaghan. We have a plan to address children's respite services. Our first move was to source funding for Little Wonders Early Intervention Centre to allow it to provide after-school services for children in early years services with a preschool element. We have put something in place since I met the Deputy last year. That was put in place in September 2022. The plan is to scope out a proper, fit-for-purpose house to meet the needs of children that will have two front doors. One door will be for children who have mild to moderate issues and can have easy compatibility with other children. The second front door will be for children with complex medical and behavioural needs who might not be compatible with other children. We are using this model on the east coast and it is working well. We need to have a service that, rather than providing 840 bed nights in an entire year, is working seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year.

See this speech in context