Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I shall continue. A report was commissioned by the HSE in much the same way that the Catholic Church used to investigate itself. It has its own little investigative arm. It investigated the allegations and the report was withheld from Louise Hassan, a single mom and Caitlin’s mother, for no reason.When she wrote to the HSE to the disability services manager to get sight and access to the report, I can tell you that the response, which I have a copy of, was patronising, condescending and implied that, simply by asking questions, one is being querulous or a troublemaker. That is because everything in this country, and I echo what the Senator said, is predicated on a charity model and not on a rights-based model. I ask that the Houses invest the same urgency and level of concern about the safeguarding of this young disabled woman as has been shown recently in respect of other vulnerable young people.

As a parent and a carer, when you hand your son or daughter, whether they be an adult or a child, into the care of another, what worse case scenario can you imagine? If we do not speak for citizens like Louise Hassan and Caitlin Hassan, then what are these Houses for? I ask that this be conveyed, in whatever time we have left in the lifetime of this Government, that this report be made available to this family, and to Louise Hassan, as a matter of priority and urgency this week, and that an end be put to this adversarial employment of legal firms. In the first quart of this year or last year, €67 million was paid by the HSE to one legal firm mobilised against families of vulnerable people like this. That is absolutely indefensible. A sum of €67 million was paid in one quarter. That is a quarter of a billion over a year. Families cannot get services and supports, yet the State is prepared to spend that magnitude of our money to fight them. Caitlin Hassan's case is emblematic of what is toxic in Ireland with regard to the status of disabled citizens. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for letting me go over time.