Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My constituency of Dublin South Central has one of the highest percentages of residents with a disability. We know that households with a disabled member are more likely to be in poverty. Several communities here are chronically disadvantaged and children can be seen minding parents, especially in cases of mental health issues and addiction, which sadly often go hand in hand. In my previous role as a community nurse, I remember visiting a patient in Crumlin. I was introduced to his 11-year-old son, Declan. I witnessed this boy's caring for his siblings and his single father, due to his father's debilitating neurological disorder. He gets up at 6 a.m. and gets himself and two siblings dressed, fed and out the door to school. He ensures his father has taken his morning medication, eats breakfast and can reach his mobile phone, in case of emergency. After school, there is not time for play. There is dinner to get, usually a precooked meal that he has bought at the shops himself. He helps the younger ones with school homework and projects and then bed. If his father needs help to make an appointment with a specialist or social housing assistance, Declan must do this before the offices close for the day. Only after everyone else has been helped can he start homework but it is often at 9 p.m. and by then he is exhausted. He would love to play Minecraft again but recreation does not really fit in to his life any more. Declan does not think of himself as a carer. He is terrified of telling anyone in authority of his situation because he does not want his family to be broken up. That is his big fear. For all the uncertainty and his father's diminishing capacity, it is the only family he knows and it is home. Declan, and thousands like him, desperately need better supports that actually reach them and a system that proactively identifies and reassures them, allowing them to be children during childhood. I wholeheartedly welcome and support this motion. However, I do not have faith in the Government delivering, given the ongoing dysfunction in so many areas that affect children, for example, in respect of Tusla, CAMHS, CDNTs and special education. These are all woefully underfunded, understaffed, underresourced and on their knees. Given the broken election promises for carer's allowance, I challenge the Minister of State and the Government to address this motion with genuine, meaningful action. I give a shout out to all those in the Public Gallery and for those who cannot be here. Children are our future; please allow then to be children.

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