Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for raising this issue. I do not have access to the individual case he raised but I do not doubt what he said. The experience the Deputy has articulated is not in any shape or form satisfactory in respect of that particular family or, indeed, for families in similar situations with what would appear to be a young child, young adult or teenager on the severe side of the autism spectrum. In many ways the trend over the last two decades has been to move away from residential care and the institutionalisation of young people generally in care. I have often thought that there needs to be modification of that in some respects. That has been a trend and decongregation is still happening, which has caused concerns in communities in respect of disabilities more generally. The professional view, with which I generally agree, has been that the more we can facilitate young people and children in the community, the better. There will be children and young people who will need residential care and families who will need respite care.

It seems that the critical issue is the recruitment of carers and professional people who can deal with children and young people who have a diagnosis of severe autism. How this has evolved is not optimal. The Deputy suggested the local authorities and the services combined would buy with the HSE. The provider could be the Brothers of Charity, as in this case, or some other provider but it could access or acquire a house, which can be done. Carers would then recruited and it would become a residence for a number of individuals. I believe it needs something much more bespoke than that, in terms of the professional multidisciplinary teams required, so the person has a good quality of life. It is not just about securing accommodation, but the families do need respite. There are shortcomings in respect of respite and residential care. There is capital allocation and there is funding to enable this to happen. It should not take two years to acquire a house. I will talk to the Minister for Health. I do not know if the Deputy can give us the details of the case but his point is there are other cases as well and I believe other Deputies can raise cases also.

Even when people become adults, there are many emergency cases in families where, for example, the carer may pass away. Very often these become emergency cases for accommodation. They get resolved in an emergency context but with proper planning and co-ordination between the different services they could be resolved earlier with an earlier more co-ordinated approach between all the authorities and the services.

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