Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Deputy Wall, and his staff on all of their work in producing this important motion. I especially commend the young carers who are with us in the Visitors Gallery this evening, and who shared their powerful testimonies with us in the audiovisual room this afternoon. They should not have to be here, but the reality of our broken system of care is what makes this motion so necessary. Our system of care is broken.

I have been struck by the lack of supports or even acknowledgements available to young carers and the effects this has on them from a social perspective, an educational perspective and a well-being perspective. I am thinking of Ann aged 20 and Barry aged 17 who both provide care for their lone parent who has an acquired brain injury. Ann cares full time for their parent at home and Barry helps outside of school hours. The demands of their caring responsibilities are having a huge impact on their education. Ann cannot apply for third level because her carer's allowance will be cut off if she undertakes studies for more than 18 and a half hours per week. Barry is struggling to study for his leaving certificate simply because he finds it difficult to find the time in the evenings, and presumably the energy. Both Ann and Barry suffer from isolation. They miss out on social occasions and rarely get a break, and there are thousands of young carers across this country, often hidden, who are struggling with little to no help. I repeat that our system of care is broken.

I had an interaction with a woman recently and it stayed with me. As a young mother with a child with additional needs, she got involved in advocacy work because she did not want another generation of parents to have to suffer through the same difficulties she had. That was 40 years ago, but the problems persist. She has spent 40 years battling for adequate respite, services and allowances. The battle continues. All of us in this House get emails and calls every day from concerned parents or carers who cannot access therapies for their dependants.

In my constituency of Dublin South West, the need for more speech and language therapists is acute. I met recently with the management team in Ballyboden primary care centre. In 2022 they had five speech and language therapists. Today, they have one who works part time. Part of the problem is that the pay and numbers strategy has effectively introduced a recruitment freeze unless they get rid of positions elsewhere. They also had two vacant positions at the end of 2023 which were then disappeared. It points to the fact that in our care system, those who provide the care, be they healthcare workers, section 39 workers, the parents of children with additional needs or the young carers who are providing care for their loved ones, are undervalued and underappreciated.

The Minister has an opportunity today to do right by some of the most heroic but vulnerable members of our society - those young carers sitting in the Visitors Gallery today. I urge her to support this motion.

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