This issue is deeply close to me. For almost 20 years, I worked as a carer for older adults with disabilities. It was always so much more than just a job. In that role, I made life-long friendships with people I supported. To help them live their best life, independently and with dignity, meant so much to me. The harsh reality today is that the State is increasingly failing people with disabilities and their families. We have all sat across from parents in their 60s, 70s and even 80s who are still the primary carers for their adult sons and daughters. They are exhausted, burnt out, and their own health is at risk. Many get little or no respite, but worse than that is the exhaustion and crushing, constant fear of what will happen to their son or daughter when they are no longer there. No parent should ever have to carry that burden. No parent should have to lie awake at night wondering if their child will have a safe place to call their own when they are gone. The Before We Die campaign laid this bare. A survey of 1,000 families showed that just 2% had a formal housing plan in place for their son or daughter with an intellectual disability. This is not just a policy failure but a human rights failure. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is crystal-clear that disabled people have the right to live in the community with choices equal to everyone else. The Government signed up to that convention and now needs to honour it. The Minister needs to stop burying her head in the sand. We need an ambitious plan for publicly owned housing, not a profit-driven private model that fails citizens and costs taxpayers dearly.

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