I strongly support this motion. For too long, families across this country have lived with a fear that most of us here in this Chamber could scarcely imagine. It is not a fear of what will happen today or tomorrow but a fear of what will happen when they are no longer here. They lie awake at night wondering who will care for their son or daughter, where they will live, whether they will be safe, whether they will be happy or whether they will still be connected to the people and places that they love and know. That fear is real. It is lived every single day by families throughout Ireland. I am thinking today in particular of my constituent Jane Johnstone and her two sons, Evan and Daniel. Jane and her late husband, Rod, devoted their lives to loving and supporting their boys. Like so many parents of adults with intellectual disabilities, they did everything the State asked of them and more. They carried the responsibility, the worry and the advocacy that should never fall on families alone. The loss of Jane's husband, Rod, in 2014 was a devastating blow for Jane and the boys but she is not asking for special treatment. She is asking for certainty, dignity and a plan. Surely that is not too much to ask in what we term a modern republic. Far too often the State intervenes only when a crisis exists - a parent dies or becomes ill or a family reach breaking point. That is not planning; it is failure. This motion recognises that people with intellectual disabilities are not service users to be fitted into whatever vacancy happens to exist. They are citizens of this nation with hopes, preferences, relationships and ambition. We owe that to every person with an intellectual disability, to every ageing parent carrying the burden of worry, which is intense, to families like Jane, Evan and Daniel Johnstone, and to the memory of Rod, who wanted nothing more than what every parent wants, the knowledge that his children would be safe, supported and valued long after he was gone.

Sentiment score: 0.14