Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will share three minutes of my time with Senator Joe O'Reilly.

I thank Senator Seery Kearney for doing the majority of the work on this motion, which is in the name of the Fine Gael group.I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to the House. Carers are mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, siblings, family members, relatives, neighbours and friends. They can be stressed, tired and frustrated with what is a job on the one hand and a devotion on the other. It is their life. It is all-consuming in many ways when one's job is to care for somebody who requires a huge amount of care. We all like to think that as our loved ones slowly get older and become more infirm we will be able to put in place a plan for their care. However, a person can at any time be struck down with a stroke or debilitating illness that requires immediate intervention, as happened just before St. Patrick's Day last year in the case of my uncle Tim, aged 88, who suffered a significant bleed on the brain and has been in hospital since then. These are occurrences require decisions to be made thereafter.

This motion encompasses much of what has been going on and the actions that are necessary. Senator Bacik spoke about the fair deal scheme. While it is a blessing in one way, it can, and should be, improved on in terms of the provision of the same financial resources for those who can care for people in their own homes with supports. I might have said the following in the past but there are some families, like mine, where there are seven children. When my father became totally dependent on us for care, we were able to do that because there were so many of us, plus my mother, my sister-in-law who is a nurse and other in-laws. All of us were able to rally around, do shifts and so on. There are other families where there may be only one child or two children, one of whom may be away working or living in Dublin while his or her parents are living in Connemara or Mayo. This leads to people feeling immensely guilty because they cannot be there all of the time. There is no perfect answer to this problem. What is perfect for me might not necessarily be perfect for somebody else. Some people require full-time care because they are not able to cared for at home or the do not have the required level of supports available to them.

This motion is important in that it deals with an area that is going to become more important in the years ahead.