Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all have a fear regarding the moratorium. With regard to some of the unfilled positions, we know how difficult it is to get home help hours and to have staff allocated. This is a huge issue in north Louth and, I assume, elsewhere across the State. I met representatives of Family Carers Ireland and noted the issue they still come up with is that of the means test. Very many people with really good jobs suddenly become carers, whether for siblings or parents. Children, in particular, have to give up jobs to care for parents, and sometimes they are put under severe pressure because of the small amount of earnings their spouse has above and beyond the threshold.

The other issue they bring up is services. We all know that. I have asked the Taoiseach before what is the best we can do to get bang for our buck. We will not have enough speech and language therapists, SLTs, psychologists or occupational therapists, OTs, in the near future. We have looked at school inclusion models and pilot projects. I would like to see the results of these and whether we can have an outworking that can benefit everyone as regards assessments and therapies, as it is not working at this point.

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