John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to be in the House to listen to all of the contributions. All of those who took the time to speak on this very important motion did so in good faith on behalf of the near 500,000 carers we have in the country.

The Government wants to continue to expand the supports we have in place for carers. It is very important for families that we ensure that the carer is cared for. If the latter does not happen, we have a breakdown of the entire support system.

My family cared for my aunt ,who had Alzheimer’s and who sadly passed away during Covid. There is difficulty in respect of the family’s support network and trying to care for an individual and keep them at home. Respite is such an essential part of that. It gives the carer the essential break to be able to care for themselves in order that they can care for their loved one.

There are a couple of parts of our motion that reference the audit on the spread of services and creating and publishing a register of respite services. I would like to know that information. I cannot find the information of the exact number of respite beds per county anywhere. I know it is available but it should be publicly available. We should know exactly where there is a dearth of services in this country and where gaps have to be filled by the State. There is never an oversupply, but there are areas that are better served with respite services and there are others that are less well served. We need to know exactly where they are in order that we can address the issue going forward.

My colleague Senator Maria Byrne referred to residential care beds. The same would apply to that. I want to know exactly where those residential beds are and are not. I have had families in Waterford who had to have children go out of the county in order to get residential care beds. Putting a child into a residential setting is such a difficult decision for a family to have to make. They will do it as the very last resort because they cannot cope any longer without the support. It does work and it really helps. I have a couple examples of families we have helped in the office and it is working. However, they should not have to go outside Waterford for that service.

This is not to start a debate or criticise any amendment, but I wish to comment on Green Papers. They are discussion documents; they are not final versions. I just looked at the Green Paper while I was listening to everyone’s contributions. On the second page, it states:

[This] Green Paper ... doesn’t claim to be the best way or the only way ... [It is only] to encourage thinking, discussion, and to prompt suggestions.

I always think it is good to discuss matters and not stop discussing matters. I hope by engaging and discussing all of these matters, we can land on the appropriate White Paper for disability reform going forward.