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

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Tully ar an rún seo anocht. I had intended to reference the hurtful, tone deaf and quite frankly disgraceful comments made by An Taoiseach recently in the media but I will not dignify those comments by repeating them. What I will say is this. We, in Sinn Féin, see the importance of the State and the role the State must play in supporting carers and people with disabilities. It is a very great pity that the man who heads the Government does not see the same.

Government policy is writ large on the stressed-out faces of the carers I see in my offices in Balbriggan and Swords day in, day out. Many of them will tell you they are exhausted from fighting. They will tell you it is a battle a day to simply stay afloat. It is not about extras because there are no extras on offer. They know that. It is about the absolute basics. They are worn out and exhausted from fighting. It is a battle a day for them.

That is why we need a rights-based approach, and that is the rights-based approach that Sinn Féin has proposed this evening. I note the Government is not opposing this motion but neither is it supporting a rights-based approach. Let us be honest about it. I would respectfully suggest that if this Government is not interested in a rights-based approach for people with disabilities and their carers, it should make way for a Government that is.

In the few moments remaining to me, I will reference the IBEC report Better Care, Better Business. I encourage everybody to read it because the statistics in it are quite stark. The one that jumped out at me was about personal mental health, where 63% of carers reported that this is the biggest negative impact to caring responsibilities. This is a survey of people who are working in the formal economy. When they are finished work, they go home and do that unpaid work. If those people were to go on strike not for a day but for half an hour, the State would grind to a halt, so we should value them more.

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