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

Last week I attended at our local special school, St. Laserian's in Carlow, to honour six athletes from its gymnastics team who brought home medals for their performance at the recent Special Olympics event in Leinster. These achievements could not have been made without hard work, dedication, kindness, inspiration and care. I applaud those athletes, their coaches and the support staff in this great school, which we are lucky to have in Carlow. I also applaud the athletes across Ireland who take part in these kinds of events, who win, and who surpass themselves at all times.

However, when I was at the school several parents asked me questions about respite. I have many questions about respite which I need answered. I have tabled Commencement matters on a number of occasions to get answers through the Minister, but the relevant Minister did not attend. I was willing to wait for the Minister to come but I have still got no answer. There is a day service in each county and we are awaiting overnight respite services. This December it will have been four years since the respite service in Carlow was closed down. The parents and caregivers fought for full respite services for years. A parent told me yesterday that they have been told that their child, who is now 11, may not get this service until the age of 18. This is unacceptable. These parents and caregivers deserve a break. Parents and caregivers of children who need this service are swallowed up caring for those children. They deserve help. I spoke to some of the parents again yesterday. Letters had been sent to some of them suggesting that day care could be opened in Tullow in June. No dates were given and there was no word on respite. The lease has still not been signed. There is no information on this issue.

My biggest issue is that there has been no communication with the parents or with me. I have had the Minister in and I have been on to the health board. I want this to go back to the Minister. These parents need to know when the respite service will be opened. They need information. We are getting no information and it is unfair to the children and parents. I will be addressing this with the Minister again. Different Ministers have come to the Seanad three or four times but the Minister I have sought has not come in. This is a very serious issue. At this stage, nearly four years on, it is unacceptable that there is still no overnight respite available.