Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues, Deputies Cullinane and Tully, for bringing forward this motion and giving us the opportunity to have this discussion. The disability capacity review shows massive shortcomings. Three quarters of parents caring for an adult or child with an intellectual disability have received no respite whatsoever. Respite is not a luxury. It is not an optional extra. It is what these families need and what these parents - it is usually the parents - need just to be able to keep going and provide care for their loved one.

When talking to people who are waiting on respite, they will tell you they feel like they have been forgotten, like nobody is listening to them. So long as they are stuck at home, they cannot go out and protest. We will not see them on the streets. The Government does not care. It is not listening. It does not understand. I fully appreciate the commitment of the Minister of State to resolution in this area but it has to be matched with people. It has to be matched with a plan and it has to be matched with services that actually deliver for the parents, the guardians and the carers who are doing a massive service to the State every single day of the week. I have said this on more than one occasion. If they were to ballot for industrial action, they would not be on strike ten minutes before getting the Government's attention. They do not want to do that. They love the people they care for. It absolutely guts them to have to go into their local Deputy's office and beg for services. They do not want to have to do that.

I spoke recently to a family with a 16-year-old child. The Minister of State is aware of this case because I have flagged it with her. He suffers with anxiety. He has not had respite. He is now looking at having to go into full-time residential care for however long that is going to be. His family are absolutely exhausted. He is 16 years of age and he is in an acute hospital bed in Crumlin. He should not be there. He does not need to be there. He does not want to be there. Somebody else needs that bed. His family knows this. He needs to be in respite or in full-time care. It is not hard to join up the dots but the people stuck at the business end of this are the carers and they feel abandoned and forgotten. I ask the Minister of State to please match her words with action.

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