Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health to the House and thank him for coming here to discuss this important issue. I tabled my Commencement matter because I want to know how many children with severe disabilities await placement in residential care. Some of the children have reached a certain age and they no longer quality for some of the services that are provided by the Jack and Jill Foundation, etc. Let me give an example where both parents work and they have a six-year old daughter with multiple disabilities. She is brain damaged so cannot walk, talk or communicate and must be PEG fed. Even though both parents work, they have more or less been advised that the girl's father should give up as the family would be in a better position to qualify for a lot more services. The parents care a great deal for their daughter. They provide care 24-7 but do not receive any assistance because they both work. There are two more children in the family. The parents were given medical cards for those children but, unfortunately, the medical cards have been taken away. The medical cards allowed the parents to receive some money to pay crèche fees. The family has a lot of expenses and outgoings. Their daughter is also getting older and is so severely disabled that they are on a HSE waiting list for permanent residential care. Their daughter now suffers multiple seizures. Her parents have been trained to cope with her seizures as, unfortunately, they cannot always have a nurse with her at such times. As the seizures have become more frequent, her parents have been advised to get their daughter into full-time residential care. Unfortunately, there are no residential places available and no indication when the issue will be resolved.

I tabled my Commencement matter to highlight the plight of this family and they gave me their permission to do so. There are more cases of people in need. Children should be prioritised in terms of residential care, especially when they suffer multiple disabilities.