Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before I start, I would like to acknowledge a former Deputy and Minister, Damien English, in the Gallery, along with his guests. I hope they have a happy visit to Leinster House today. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this important Commencement matter. My call is for the provision of a long-term assisted care facility for young to middle-aged adults with additional living needs. I am currently working with the family of a young woman who is 38 years of age. She has lived happily at home with her mother for those 38 years but she has a lot of additional needs. She has attended the Avista daycare centre in Dooradoyle in Limerick every day for the past ten years and has many friends and associates there. However, the young woman's mother has become sick and is no longer in a position to care for her daughter. They are looking at a long-term care facility in Tipperary, and while I mean no insult to the Chair, I believe that moving her from an area she is used to, where her daycare and work is located, will be to her detriment. There are many more people in a similar position. Some are in nursing homes for older people and are often the youngest there. The fact that most of the people in nursing homes are in the older age category makes such accommodation an unsuitable solution. There should be long-term care facilities available for people who are still young but who cannot live at home anymore because there is nobody to look after them. Ideally, they would live in an assisted living environment and continue to go to their work every day.