Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Níl dabht ar bith ann ach go bhfuil tuismitheoirí agus cúramóirí á ligean síos ag an Rialtas seo agus ní féidir teacht ar sheirbhísí faoisimh do leanaí agus dá ngaolta. Tuigimid gur dhiúltaigh Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte do thogra an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Rabbitte, deich leaba fhaoisimh a athoscailt do leanaí faoi mhíchumas i gContae Chorcaigh, buille eile do thuismitheoirí agus do theaghlaigh.

On RTÉ news this weekend, we learned about Julie Anne Cunneen from Upper Glanmire in Cork and her 16-year-old son Liam. Liam is a pupil at Carrigaline Community Special School. The family is at breaking point. It has been put to the pin of its collar because it cannot access overnight respite services. Julie Anne told RTÉ that she rates her pain between eight and nine on a scale of one to ten. She told RTÉ that Liam's pain is about seven or eight. Julie Anne tells us that she has never had access to overnight respite services during the 16 years Liam has been on this Earth. She has asked the HSE for it time and time again but she said she never got it. For that family to be treated in that way is utterly unacceptable but it is not unique and that is the problem.

This is a massive issue in Cork but it is also a problem for patients and families across the State. In my county of Donegal, parents are forced to go on local radio to express their outrage and concern about respite services being suspended at Drumboe Respite House in Stranorlar for over three years. In Wexford, parents, carers and those supporting them staged a protest down Gorey's main street following the news that respite services have been withdrawn in St. Aidan's Day Care Centre at Mulcahy House for the next three months. These parents describe themselves as desperate, isolated and exhausted following the announcement and they are not alone.

For parents and caregivers across the State be they in Donegal, Wexford or the Tánaiste's county of Cork, these respite services are not a luxury. They are critical. They often provide the only opportunity for these families to attend a family wedding or the funeral of a loved one or simply to recharge. The disruption caused by respite services being withdrawn, cancelled or closed cannot be over-stated and it is happening on the Tánaiste's watch. Parents and caregivers are given little warning when services are closed and little clarity as to when they will re-open.

Families with children attending Carrigaline Community Special School say they cannot even get on to the waiting list for overnight respite services because the school the children are attending is not operated by what they call a traditional disability service provider. That is a farcical state of affairs that has gone on for far too long. This morning, we hear that the HSE has rejected the proposal for the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to re-open ten beds for children with disabilities with Cork. It is ridiculous that these services are not being fully staffed by the HSE in the first place but for the HSE to dismiss the Minister of State's proposal out of hand is simply embarrassing. In the middle of all of this, there are children, families and parents who are desperate for respite services. Julie Anne has not received overnight respite in 16 years.

Does the Tánaiste accept that children, adults and families are being failed and failed again by this Government because of the lack of services across the State? How does he stand by the fact that as we speak, there are ten empty beds in his county of Cork for respite services that are not operational? There are 12 beds in County Wexford that are closed for the next three months. A respite centre in my county of Donegal has not operated for three years. Surely this is an example of a Government that is failing to plan. What comfort and assurance can the Tánaiste offer? What is he going to do as Tánaiste to ensure these families are no longer failed by the State and that they will get the support they desperately need?

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