David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a grá for carers - I imagine everybody in this House does - because of the work they do. A number of weeks ago I was asked to visit the home of a person who was being cared for and there was an issue that they were asking me to assist with. The carer was present in the house. What struck me was that the carer was an older lady who was looking after her husband, and she had great difficulty lifting her husband from the bed, yet that is what she had to do every day. If we look at the tasks that carers do to look after people who are being cared for, particularly older people, it is a really difficult job. I meet with Family Carers Ireland and disability groups on a regular basis. Many of the issues they raise with me are ones we have not addressed since I first got involved in politics well over 20 years ago. That is to all of our collective shame. I recognise that there have been some improvements in some areas since then but we still have an awful long way to go.

In the motion we have put forward today, all of the proposals are asks that we should be doing as a matter of course. I cannot understand why some of them are still subject to debate or delay. We are looking for a rights-based approach to access to care for people with disabilities. From my perspective, that simply is not the case. If we look at the action plan that came from the disability capacity review, there are no timelines in respect of year-on-year targets, and no sense of how any of that will be funded. We know we had a capacity review that many of these groups were really concerned about. It identified what needed to happen but there was no plan, no resources and no strategy to underpin it. Even with the action plan, it is absent when it comes to timelines and funding. We do not know exactly what funding will be delivered on a year-to-year basis. Very often it is at the whim of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure and reform in each budget. I do not believe that is the way forward. If we want to properly resource a strategy or an action plan, it has to have multiannual funding.

The issue of respite care and respite services is so important for the carer but also the person who is being cared for. I gave the example of the older lady whom I witnessed trying to lift her husband out of bed. There are lots of other really difficult circumstances that carers find themselves in, particularly when it comes to children and adults with profound disabilities. It is a really difficult, challenging job. They love the person they are caring for but they need a break and respite. Very often they cannot get it because the services are not there. I still have not heard from any member of Government as to when they will set a date for the ratification of the UNCRPD optional protocol. Nobody has explained to me why the State is not doing this. Every single time I meet disability groups, they raise this with me. Every single time there is a motion brought forward to this Dáil by any political party, including when parties that are in government now were in opposition, we have all called collectively for this to be done, yet nobody has given me a reasonable answer as to why a date still has not been set. That is incredible and it should not be happening. I would like to hear from the Ministers when they come in and deliver their contributions why it is that we cannot ratify this protocol. I have never been given a satisfactory answer.

We obviously have to support the person who is caring. We need to do more in terms of reviewing the means test for carers and looking at the payments carers get. We provided for that in our alternative budget and we produced a very comprehensive rights-based charter for carers that talks about delivering on all of these issues over a term in government. However, we also have to include access to services for the person who is being cared for. If you are caring for someone and it is a struggle to access very basic services such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy or respite care, that has an impact on the person who is caring for that individual as well. Our motion puts forward very sensible solutions and proposals where we need to invest and do better to deliver for carers, for people with disabilities and for all of those who are being cared for. We should commend all of those carers who do an absolutely amazing job, day in, day out and week in, week out to look after those whom they look after.

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