Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I have raised the issue of respite care with him previously, particularly in so far as it relates to Cork. Since the last time I did so, I have been contacted by a number of parents across the country who are having difficulties as a result of what has occurred in the past two or three years in premises where respite care is available and in respect of which HIQA has done inspections and set standards.I have no difficulty with standards being set and making sure we achieve them, but in some cases facilities have been withdrawn. What I am looking for - it is a very reasonable request - is a national respite care strategy. We should identify, first, the number of people with disabilities being cared for by their parents, their brothers or sisters or their relatives in their own homes, in other words, those not reliant on the State or a State facility for their care. Second, we need to identify the demographics of people with disabilities, the age groups about which we are talking, the numbers between the ages of 18 and 30 years, 30 and 40, 40 and 50 and so on and their changing needs.

The third thing we need to identify is extremely important; it an issue that arises every week at my constituency clinics. I refer to ageing parents who are looking after their children. For instance, one man whose case I have dealt with travels 15 miles a day to put his daughter into the care of a Cope Foundation day facility and collect her every evening. He is 79 years of age and has been doing this for the past 45 or 50 years. He will not be able to do it forevermore. There are a huge number of people looking after their children at home who have been doing it for many years and time is catching up with them. We need to find out their age profile.

Once we have this information, we can plan a detailed strategy, not just for one place but for the entire country. We specifically need to identify facilities which cater for people who require respite care. This is extremely important. As I said to the Minister of State previously, one lady I met recently told me that she slept for a full two days when her adult son was in respite care because of the work she had to do in order to look after him. These are the difficulties such carers face. I dealt with another case in which the parents of a child who is now in her early 20s had to lift her out of bed every morning, wash her, clean her and tube-feed her. They provide care for her 24/7. It is important that we give such parents the support they deserve by making sure there is an adequate respite care service available, not just in one place but across the country.