Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his new role. I know he will do exceptionally well and will be very fair to everyone, which is so important.

Second, I want to convey my sympathy to the Orlando victims and their families. Everybody has been affected by the incident and it is an awful tragedy.

I do not wish to repeat what everyone has said about the national carers' week. A carer's work is such an invaluable role. It is so hard to learn, when one reads the figures and is fighting for people to get carers, that there is a backlog of 11 months for appeals for carers to be provided. We live in a society where people are living longer and we encourage people to stay in their homes, which is part of the new Government, and yet we must fight for 11 months to get appeals for carers to be provided to the elderly and other people. Such a situation is not good enough. I ask the Cathaoirleach to call on the Minister to address this matter because it needs to be urgently addressed. There is no point in us sitting here next year during national carers' week having waited another 11 months for appeals to come through. The current situation is not good enough and is unacceptable.

On a local issue, I represent Carlow as part of my role here in the Seanad. I do not know if many other counties have respite centres but the only one in Carlow was called Tir na nÓg and it catered for children aged from two to 18 years. As Senators may know, Carlow has a population of 59,000. Sadly, the centre was closed a few months ago even though it provided a vital service to the people, particularly the children of Carlow. I need answers, the people of Carlow want it re-opened and I need to make sure that funding is in place. I ask that the Minister for Health comes in here to address the matter.