Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would love to have been standing here today and saying how important this referendum is and talking about the profound impact it would have on recognising and supporting care in this country. I was very excited about the prospect of replacing this outdated reference to women in the home and talking about supporting care in all its forms. We were given so much hope that by the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and the Oireachtas committee that we would have ground-breaking progress.

When we look at what is in front of us, we can see there is some bit of progress. Striving to support the provision of care by family members is something in itself. Overall, we have been reduced to saying that this constitutional change is a first step and that an explicit recognition that some of the caring situations in this country is better than no recognition at all but this is not good enough.

When I think about the range of caring situations in this country, I am thinking in particular about those who rely on care outside the home, particularly those with a disability who want to be empowered to live independently and who depend on various types of care for a decent quality of life. What does this constitutional change say to them? The wording before us greatly worries me because it entrenches a notion of dependency on the family for care and there is a rather patronising notion that family has to be part of the care that needs to be provided. There is also a gendered aspect to it because we know that of the caring situations that arise in this country, about 61% of them are provided by women and of course, it is the women within families. It is the mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces and sisters who provide that care within the family and will continue to do so. Rather than having a rights-based approach, which was what I was really hoping for, that would empower those who need care in this country, it feels like we are entrenching that patronising notion that it has to take place within the family. I am thinking in particular of a woman named Fiona I have had reason to engage a lot with over the past two years. She is 42 years of age, has an intellectual disability and the mental age of an 11-year-old and requires ongoing support but she also works in SuperValu for ten hours per week, goes hill walking and does a whole lot of other activities. She lives at home. Her parents, who are now coming into their 80s, want her to find sheltered housing. She cannot access that sheltered housing and I have been down that road with her trying to get it for her. The corrosive impact on her parents of knowing that there is nothing for their 42-year-old daughter when they go to their graves is horrendous. There is nothing in this referendum for that family because it needs care outside the home.

Despite my bitter disappointment about the wording of the referendum, I will be voting "Yes" and will go out and ask people to vote "Yes" because I believe it strengthens our hand with regard to those who are providing care in the home. If nothing else, it strengthens our hand to go out and ensure that we can see changes to the carer's allowance and move to a situation where it is no longer means-tested and is available to all those who provide care on a full-time basis or that we can press ahead with greater changes to address the disgraceful way the domiciliary care allowance is administered. I am thinking in particular of the family of a small girl from Dublin named Edie Tyrrell who moved here from Canada over the past two years. In Canada, she was recognised as having a disability and her parents were given a care allowance in respect of the care needs she has. When the family came to Ireland, her parents applied for the domiciliary care allowance and they were told that she did not have care needs beyond what a normal child of that age has. I am thinking of the disgraceful situation that applies to so many families where they must repeatedly apply to be recognised by this State.I am conscious that progress often is not won by a revolution but through many tiny steps and I support this referendum because I believe it constitutes some progress. To persuade the raft of people who have their doubts, we need and wish to see a picture painted by the Minister and the rest of the Government as to what impact this reference to care will have on people's lives. We need to persuade people.