Mary Moran (Labour)

Will the Leader organise an urgently needed debate on disability services? I have raised it time and time again. I apologise if I make this a personal issue but I do so as the parent of a child with a disability and representing many people with disabilities in my area. Recently, respite services for children with disabilities were reduced to ten days out of every 30 with no prospect of respite services for the immediate future due to a €1.5 million cutback this year and €4.5 million over the past several years. It is imperative that services are available for our most vulnerable and youngest children with disabilities. I recently heard someone ask why we need to pay nurses to watch over children when they sleep. As the parent of a child who sleeps at most three hours a night, respite is my lifeline. We talk about trying to encourage women into politics. Oireachtas life does not particularly lend itself to being a homemaker. It makes it especially hard when one is coping with a child with a disability.

Recently, I spoke with the elderly parents of a paraplegic 37 year old with an intellectual disability who will not get a place in residential care. They were told the best solution for them would be to move into a nursing home where the average age would be 70 years. No one would like to see a 37 year old told this is all that is left for him or her. We need to examine our disability services and ensure the money follows the patient. There have been cutbacks in many disability organisations. Many of them cannot cut back any more.