I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the motion, which Independent Ireland will fully support. It is a brilliant motion. I want to put on the record my full support for the Before We Die campaign. I attended a meeting with the group in Cork city recently and I can honestly say it was a greatly attended and very moving meeting. Parents are being left in a crisis situation. This has been coming for a long time. People have been left on their own and it is time for the Government to sit up and take serious action. The campaign is led by parents of adults with intellectual disabilities. These are not people looking for special treatment; they are mothers and fathers who have spent a lifetime caring for their sons and daughters, who are asking one simple question, which is what will happen to their child when they are gone. It is a question that no parent should have to carry alone, yet thousands do throughout Ireland today. Parents in their 70s, 80s and even 90s are still providing full-time care because there is nowhere suitable for their loved ones to live. Many are exhausted and worried sick about the future. They live with the constant fear that if something happened to them tomorrow, their son or daughter could be left without the support, security and stability they need. The message from these families is simple and powerful. They want solutions to be put in place before they die and not after. This is a reasonable request. In fact, it is the very least they should expect from the State. Behind every statistic we discuss today is a real person and a real family. There are parents lying awake at night wondering whether anyone is listening. There are brothers and sisters worried about what responsibilities may suddenly fall on them in the future. There are adults with intellectual disabilities who simply want what the rest of us want: a home, community, independence and a good quality of life. We need a system that plans ahead instead of reacting after the damage is done. We need proper housing options, supported living arrangements, respite services and community supports. We need clear pathways and certainty for families. Most important, we need Departments and agencies working together instead of leaving families to navigate an endless maze of bureaucracy. This issue is particularly challenging in rural Ireland, where families can find themselves with very limited local options. Nobody should be forced to move their loved ones miles away from families, friends and everything familiar simply because suitable supports are unavailable in their own community. We also need better data and greater accountability. If the Government does not know the true level of need, it cannot properly plan for the future. Families deserve transparency and they deserve to know that progress is being made. Most of all we need compassion. We need to recognise the incredible dedication of parents and carers who have devoted their lives to looking after loved ones. These families have done their part. They should not have to spend their latter years living with fear and uncertainty. The families behind the Before We Die campaign have shown tremendous courage in speaking out. We owe it to them not just to listen but to act. I urge the Government to provide the long-term planning, resources and commitment these families so desperately need. I was on the board of CoAction for a number of years in a voluntary capacity before I got into politics. That was 15 or 20 years ago and there was talk at that time about a model for independent living for people with intellectual disabilities. It never went from there to where we are today. That model has not really been exercised or brought forward and, where it has, some people find their accommodation might be 60 miles or 70 miles away. This is a bitter pill for people who have cared and saved the State billions of euro down through the years, to think their son or daughter has been taken away from them. We tried to exercise this model in my community and recently we built 12 houses in Schull. I am involved with Schull Community Care and we had difficulties with this. We paid into the project, which was one of these RAS schemes. We had difficulty in getting two people with intellectual disabilities into one of the houses. We did win the battle but my God it was an uphill battle. Our group struggled for it to happen. It has brought the people joy and this could be the same in every community in the country. Whether it is ten, 12, 20 or 100 houses being considered, a percentage should be given to people with intellectual disabilities to live independently, with a little bit of help. Their families will not be going away; they will certainly be helping and there will also be the help of others. The model in Schull should be copied throughout the country. If anyone wants to sit in a car to go down, I will show it to them in the morning. There are other issues with regard to people with disabilities. I am fighting for the transport service from Castletownbere to CoAction in Bantry. People need this transport service but for the past six or seven weeks we cannot get answers on whether it will continue. Issues like this are of huge concern.

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