I wish to start by thanking Deputy Quaide and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. It is very important for so many people in this country. It is an issue that comes up very regularly in my own office. As has been said, over 2,000 adults with an intellectual disability in Ireland live with a family carer over the age of 70 and 450 of these adults are cared for by parents over the age of 80. We cannot imagine what that is like day to day for those parents, who ask who is going to look after their adult child when they pass away. It consumes them day in, day out. It is the one question they ask and it is the one question that is on their minds when they get up in the morning and when they go to bed at night. That is the reality for many ageing and older parents of adult children with intellectual disabilities in this country because they cannot bear the thought of not knowing what will happen to their loved ones should they pass away before them. That is the hardest truth in this country at the moment. A serious issue has been neglected by Governments, which have failed to keep pace with the growing population of young adults who find themselves in such circumstances. Because of this, we are told Ireland could have a shortfall of up to 2,300 residential places since the recession and overall demand for nearly 4,000 extra places as we move forward. These are family carers who are working 24-7 without a break. They are adults living with a very uncertain future. There is also the ongoing national scandal of young and middle-aged people with disabilities trapped in nursing homes. It has been five years since the Ombudsman published the Wasted Lives report, showing that over 1,300 young and middle-aged disabled people were being forced to live in nursing homes because of the lack of suitable accommodation for them to live independently. Five years on and more than 1,100 people remain trapped in nursing homes. This Government and the previous Government have barely managed to make a dent in this unfortunate figure, while more and more young people continue to be admitted into nursing homes year after year. This is an awful indictment of Government failure and we simply need to see action quickly. Mention was made of the competition between the HSE section 38 and section 39 organisations and private operators. It is simply not good enough that private operators have the advantage that they have compared with section 38 and section 39 organisations. I will conclude on the matter of personal assistance hours. Under the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, the Government has set itself an ambitious target of delivering an additional 1 million personal assistance hours. However, between 2024 and 2525, the Government went backwards, with the number of hours decreasing by 0.5%. That is not progress; it is regression. If the Government is serious about its obligation under the UNCRPD, we must see a much greater investment in personal assistance hours to support people with disabilities to live independently, and that must include investment across home supports, day and community services, residential and independent living.

Sentiment score: -0.05