Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being available to dealt with this matter.Over 1,500 people attend day care services in the Cope Foundation in Cork. One good result of the care being given to people with disabilities is that they are living longer. Many parents using these services drive their children, although some of them are in their mid-50s, to the Cope Foundation's facilities in Cork city each day and collect them in the evening. These parents are getting older, however. I know of several families where the parents are in their late 70s and early 80s and who drive their children to the facilities provided by Cope in Cork city. They are coming under more pressure as they cannot drive in the same way as they could before and, sometimes, they cannot do it every day. They are finding there is no support mechanism for them if they stop taking their son or daughter to these facilities. Another issue is if their child is over 18 years of age, no allowance is made for them either.

This is an issue that is beginning to come up more and more. I have come across cases nearly every second week in my constituency clinics. It is a matter which needs to be examined. Can a system be put in place to support those parents who have been so good, in the sense they saved the State significant amounts of money through the years? In one case I have encountered, the person availing of the services is over 50, meaning the parents have looked after their child for over 50 years at little cost to the State.