Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Disability services for adults and children are severely lacking across the entire country, nowhere more so than in rural communities in my constituency of Cork West. A lack of psychological, occupational therapy, OT, speech and language, home support, respite and residential care services are some of the problems faced by my constituents year in, year out. The occupational therapist in the Bantry area only works three days a week and her enormous workload allows her to see only the most urgent cases, known as priority 1. In Skibbereen, children with disabilities have had no access to an OT service since October 2022. There are no OTs available on a private basis in the area, which compounds the issue even further.

Respite for carers is another significant issue in Cork West. One of my constituents, a single mother with a 14-year-old boy who has severe intellectual and physical disabilities, is wheelchair-bound and has to be lifted and carried everywhere and is totally dependent, told me she has not had a full day off in a year. She has been appealing for residential respite but she has not yet been able to avail of the service. An elderly couple on the Beara Peninsula whose son is profoundly intellectually and physically disabled have no home support at weekends. The 69-year-old mother told me she gets €137 a week carer's allowance for providing 24-7 care for her son. At weekends, she has to employ private help to lift him into and out of bed, change his clothes and so on, and that costs her €160 for eight hours of help. This is a disgrace. It is upsetting that elderly parents of adult children with disabilities for whom they can no longer care safely in their home cannot get them a place in long-term residential care. It is shocking that services have come to this.

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