Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

John Corrie is somebody's son, John Corrie is probably somebody's father, John Corrie is somebody's brother and John Corrie has a sister who is now crying. He was a real human being who died beside us with no dignity and no respect.

I shall move on to another issue. Earlier Senator Moran spoke of the "Prime Time" debate and said there is a need to hold a debate on people with a severe mental health disability being placed in residential care. I second her call for same. I visited a 17-year old child in Kildare last week who was put in respite residential care 14 months ago. Her family are in Dublin and they are distraught because their little girl who has never been cared for anywhere else but in her home has been injured no less than four times at her current location. She has broken her toe, damaged her ankle and can no longer speak. She fell against a radiator recently and hurt her neck and split her lip. Unfortunately, she did not get plastic surgery in time so is disfigured forever. Her family want her put back near them in Dublin where they can keep an eye on her. They want to save the State money and care for her at weekends. They have spent €4,500 on round trips to the residential care centre which her consultant in St. James's Hospital says is not safe for her.

While I could go on for two hours, Members need a debate and need some action because these people have no voices. The only quality of life this child has is to visually see her family - those whom she loves - every day and they are a round trip of 120 km from her.