I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion and allowing me the opportunity to speak in support of the Before We Die campaign. This is a group of people I have had the pleasure to get to know over the last number of months. They are a group of people asking one simple question, which is what happens to their sons or daughters when they are no longer there to care for them. It is a question those families are raising and that my own family and many other families across the country are asking as well. I acknowledge the work of Tony Murray and Maria Moran in my own constituency who, along with the wider campaign in Cork and elsewhere in the country, have met a number of Ministers and the Minister of State. Today, I am publishing a compilation of the targeted parliamentary questions I have submitted on behalf of the campaign and individual families. The answers confirm what these families have been telling us. Nearly half of the primary carers of adults awaiting a residential place are aged 60 or over. The State’s own review found that we need at least 1,900 additional residential places. This is not a hidden problem. It is one that is going to happen whether we plan for it or not. It is also clear that while day services are important, there is very little transparency in respect of how requests for residential care are processed between the different day services, the HSE disability integrated healthcare area teams and the need at local authority level. I am asking for two things today, which I think could be done immediately. First, I ask for a dedicated housing officer to be established in every local authority, seconded from and linked to the HSE, to finally bring together housing and health so families do not have to negotiate that. Second, I am asking for a guaranteed forward plan, triggered automatically when the carer of a person with an intellectual disability turns 65. This would mean that families get certainty and a progressive plan, not a crisis response. People have spoken to me about this. They have said that they often do not necessarily have an immediate need for a place, but they do have an immediate need for a plan for what will happen to their children.

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