Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not have long so I will not delay. A mother in County Tipperary is caring alone for her son who has very specific needs, including an uncommon disease involving abdominal deficiencies alongside autism spectrum disorder. In the past she has had to cancel her own appointments because she cannot find anyone suitable to look after her son. The typical response we are all used to hearing when we inquire about people in this situation is there are not sufficient respite replacements to meet demand. In this case, the response went further. I was told a significant waiting list exists for respite assessments. Not only are people delayed in getting respite services there are delays in getting respite assessments. This parent used the words "dire" and "chronic" in my office to describe how she feels and how she sees the system that is failing her. Loneliness was also a feature of that conversation.

What is making the problem worse for this lady and for the many other people in a similar situation is that home care hours are just out of reach for so many. I submitted a parliamentary question on home care hours in the CHO 3 area, which includes north Tipperary. I have not yet received a reply to that question but I have received a reply to another about CHO 5, which includes south Tipperary. There are 1,003 clients awaiting home support hours in the south east community healthcare area. People whose lives are at their most demanding are being failed.

At the same time, communities are witnessing the removal of local beds and services with the excuse that it is being done to improve care in the community. It is illogical. When St. Brigid's in Carrick-on-Suir was closed by stealth, 16 beds, comprising three palliative beds, two respite beds and 11 convalescent beds, went with it. How is that serving the community? The response to that was to farm out the respite beds to the private sector in the Government's ambition to gradually privatise essential health and social care services and send those in need to other beds outside of their communities.

The Minister of State knows we are keeping a beady eye on her plans for the community nursing unit in Cashel and the unanswered questions regarding respite beds in the Dean Maxwell community nursing unit in Roscrea, given the underhanded way that health facilities in Tipperary have been treated. There is a lack of trust there. The fact we are discussing a motion on the potential need for approximately 20,000 additional respite hours is a testament to the failure of the Minister of State. She has thrown the disability capacity review out the window.

In government, Sinn Féin would implement a multi-annual strategic workforce plan to expand services to address the extreme levels of unmet need and support the reopening of closed respite centres. While the Government is not opposing the motion, actions speak louder than words. It should stop closing these beds. The Government is continuing efforts to make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of people with disabilities by pulling all of the services out of local communities and moving them 30 km or 40 km away from families.

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