I thank Deputy Quaide and the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. I commend the Before We Die campaign, particularly Tony Murray, his wife Susan and their daughter, Aoife. Before We Die is aptly named. At the disability committee, many people have spoken about the fact that many parents feel frustrated and are incredibly worried about what will happen to their adult children with an intellectual disability. They are not sure what the future holds and some even say they feel incredibly guilty because they think that maybe their children will die before them, which would deal with that issue. Imagine having to feel like that. It is obviously utterly scandalous. I do not know how many times recently we have discussed the issues that exist and the failure to deliver decent disability, respite and residential services. We know the 101 issues that exist in relation to schooling and education for those with disabilities. We are not at the races in any way, shape or form. I also commend, in my constituency, the work done by the recently stood-down Inclusion Louth, which was previously Dundalk Parents and Friends of the Intellectually Disabled. I think of Eoghan Bailey, Mary Darcy, Mary Connolly and many others. They are a group of parents who came together because they needed to make sure there was a future for their children who had disabilities. It is hard to believe that I can talk about the work they were doing 30 years ago, or further back, and consider that we are still no further on. What is the big issue that has been brought to us? It is that parents are worried that there is no plan in place for their child. If somebody cannot cope and that child ends up in an emergency department or somebody does die and there is nobody to look after that child, the State will then kick in. It will not have the preparatory work done beforehand but it will kick in, and then who is ready to jump in? It is the for-profit operators. There will be disputes about how much this costs, but let us assume on the basis of them being for-profit operators that they will charge more, because that is why they are in business. What happens? We end up in the position that the only people who can operate are those who cost the State and the taxpayer more. They may have a house which could be three counties over. The perfect situation is one where there is a proper conversation between the local authority, the HSE and all the disability services. I heard Bernard Gloster, the previous chief of the HSE, say that the local authorities, from his point of view, should provide the housing and that disability services should be provided on top of that. If done in a completely planned and organised way, with the correct planning and funding, it is cheaper and better. An awful lot of parents are quite happy to look after their children. They just want to know there is a proper plan in place for the future. I find it hard to believe that we are still talking about this issue at this stage. The number of people who do not have a plan is through the roof. I commend the work of Before We Die.

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