Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I regret that I cannot stay for the full debate because I have to go to the disability committee straight after this. There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more than their disability. I am a strong believer in that. I know many people with disabilities, including in my own family. Honouring their ability to be the person that they can be is so important in my eyes and in the eyes of many.

Before I respond to the motion I wish to make a few points, particularly in relation to the whole area of care. We, in the women's caucus, brought a motion around care and supporting carers that was debated in the Dáil and the Seanad. Senator Clonan makes very valid points, but the Minister for Social Protection is the Minister who is dealing with exactly what he is talking about in the Green Paper. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is here dealing with this particular motion. I believe that we need to have a debate with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, on the points that Senator Clonan is making in relation to her Green Paper.

I certainly support this motion. The whole issue of care, the care economy, supporting carers, and ensuring we have respite care for those who need to be cared for and for the carers is vitally important. I refer again to the substantial motion that we brought before this House and the Dáil on delivering a rights-based care economy. The reason we did this, as a cross-party caucus, was that we were keen to have a discussion on the care economy and to see how the caucus could contribute to that. That is all about valuing care and valuing carers. The care economy is such a broad topic, and we need to have many different national conversations about it.

In Ireland, we have a complex social care system. It is a complex mix of public and private delivery and financing, and we could speak at length about all the different aspects of it. As part of what we did within the caucus, we sought submissions from 48 care organisations. We spent a full day with people from different organisations, particularly those with lived experience such as Senator Clonan has. We have to acknowledge the many challenges that are there for families. The Minister of State met with one family I know, and I thank her for that. For them, it was not just about the care of the child who needed the respite; it was the care for the other siblings in that family who were losing out on family time and did not want to bring their own friends home because of the family situation. Once a month or every six weeks, if they were lucky, they had the opportunity to avail of two nights of respite care and could have what we would term a normal family life. They never had a family holiday or weekend. They are the children about whom we have to be concerned as well - they belong to the non-disabled community but we could say they are disabled because they have a disabled person in their own home.

I know that the Minister of State is committed to the expansion of services for people with disabilities. The work she has done in underpinning significant developments around the programme for transformation in disability services is important, including the publication and implementation of the disability action plan and the progressing disability road map.

I refer to family carers again, because they are the most incredible people. They provide care to children and adults with additional needs. Many of these carers are older people themselves. I know many people in their 70s and 80s who are caring for their adult children and, indeed, sometimes caring for now disabled partners. They are caring for people with physical or intellectual disabilities or both, frail older people, those with palliative care needs and those living with chronic illnesses, mental ill health or addiction.

I note that €10 million was allocated in budget 2024 to respite services to build on existing provision and to provide and deliver more alternative respite, such as in homes, in after-school services and in youth services. Is that enough? I must ask the Minister of State that question. Do we need to look for funding for capital build in terms of delivering these much-needed services? There is a pressing challenge around complying with the assessment of need legal obligations and providing therapeutic interventions for children with available resources. There were over 19,000 assessments of need overdue for completion at the end of 2023. I know, from separate meetings with her and from speaking with her, that the Minister of State is genuinely committed and compassionate. She is doing everything in her power to try to improve service provision in the area of disability, but it is not happening on the scale we need to see. Care-giving is a hugely intimate thing. I know, from my own clinics, that many family members and loved ones provide care out of love and devotion to the person, but we are all human. Respite care is an essential component to ensuring that older people with care needs in the home, including those with dementia as well as those with disabilities, can be cared for in their community and close to their carers.