Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to the remarks of Senator Gavan. I agree with him that the issue of Palestine has remained static for a long period. From a diplomatic point of view and the point of view of someone who visited Gaza in 2009, I believe nothing has changed in the past eight years. If anything, circumstances have become more difficult. Each year, there seems to be a disimprovement rather than an improvement. For many in Ireland, Gaza is a strip of land equivalent to that from Cork to Youghal. People who know the area will know it is 35 miles long and ten miles wide. If one can imagine 1.5 million Irish people locked into that block of land, one can imagine how difficult it is to survive in Gaza, where that is the reality. I agree with Senator Gavan that the matter should be addressed.

Could I raise the issue of respite care? I received a report from the health committee yesterday. This was after six months of looking for information on planning for respite care. I am seriously concerned about it because a number of families in the Cork area face major challenges every day in trying to deal with family members with an intellectual disability. Respite care is not available to them. The report I received yesterday from the health committee indicated that, by 2021, we will need to open an extra 2,244 new residential support services for respite care alone. This would be a major challenge and it is one we will have to meet by 2021.

I have not seen any proposals from the HSE on how we intend to deal with that kind of demand. I raised previously in this House the fact that there are a huge number of parents looking after family members. Those parents are now ageing and are not able to provide support at the same level they were able to provide it over the past 15, 20 or, in some cases, 30 to 40 years. We face a major challenge.It is appropriate that we would have the Minister in to debate what is involved in the planning, where it is starting, who is in charge, what are the targets and when they are going to be achieved. We need to have this debate and to get this dealt with because it is not going to improve. I am not convinced that these targets are going to be reached unless we develop a comprehensive plan for the next three to four years.