Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Wall, for the amount of work he has done on this motion, which I really welcome. I welcome those from Family Carers Ireland, who are in the Visitors Gallery, and the carers who spoke to us today. This motion is really important. A huge number of people across the country provide 24-7 dedicated care to family members. I want to take the opportunity to commend every single carer across the country, but in particular young carers.

This motion is seeking the opportunity for young carers to be recognised in this State. There is an obligation now on the Department of Education to provide dedicated programmes of supports specific to the needs of carers. Right now in this country, neither the Department of Education nor the Department of children have dedicated support programmes for young carers in Ireland. We need to see the implementation, as this motion calls for, of bespoke programmes in schools to recognise and support the needs and circumstances of young carers. What is most important in education, and the Minister knows this, is that we try to give every single child across the country the greatest education that he or she can possibly receive. It is on the Department to give that education. We will be unable to support young carers across this country if we cannot give them the opportunity to develop their education while they provide this vital care.

Today in the audiovisual room I was struck by the almost gut-wrenching meeting I had with Family Carers Ireland and the four young carers. Conor told us that he lives a two and a half hour bus journey from University of Limerick where he is studying and that he lives in constant fear about how quickly he could get back if something happened at home.

Conor added that if something was to happen to his mother or father, it would stop him from pursuing his own career in education as he will have to be the one who provides for his family.

Fourteen-year-old Lucy told us that she felt invisible in school and expressed her concerns at 14 years of age at the lack of support and services available in our schools. Benjamin informed us that he did not get the support in school despite reaching out to the school staff. He expressed his disappointment in anti-bullying policies as just being a tick-the-box exercise and expressed his concerns that many young carers go unnoticed in our system because of the stigma that surrounds it in our schools. Sarah Ann told us that young carers like her exist in the shadows.

These interactions were stark. Family Carers Ireland has support programmes right across the country. It has two young carers support workers who are funded by Family Carers Ireland and not by the Department. These young carers we speak about often have so much piling up on them. We know the issues and the Minister knows them as well. We have tens of thousands of children waiting on essential therapies and we have more than 10,000 children waiting on assessments of needs in this country and it is these very people who are sitting in the Visitors Gallery who are the ones dealing with this on a daily basis. I am calling on the Minister and her Government to support this motion.

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