I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this really important topic about older and disabled people, and what kind of home they can have. The current system is completely unsatisfactory. Older and disabled people are generally in private nursing homes run for profit. I spoke to a parent before this debate about the situation in my constituency. Her son, who gets respite four nights per month, was not able to get that respite for months because a client with severe needs was being accommodated and the whole building had to be cleared for that. It just shows the under-provision of the vital accommodation people need. People with intellectual disabilities losing that familiarity is very upsetting. There is also no respite care in Dublin 15, which is a huge part of the constituency. This parent brought an issue to my attention. She is also thinking about what will happen to her son after she dies. She is an older parent, and her son was earmarked for a potential long-term place. She asked if she could view the property and was told no, that she could just be shown photographs as there were people living in the property. Is this for real? Obviously, a parent wants to see where their child is going to end up. Then the place just frittered away. That is something that needs to be looked at. This is a permanent home for somebody. Another issue raised is the fear of violence against sons and daughters. This parent witnessed violence against a client when she was in a park. She duly reported it to the authorities and to the Garda, but if that is going on in a park, what is going on behind closed doors in these facilities where there are no cameras? That is a real fear so many parents have. Another fear is about money. This parent said her son's ATM card is taken off him when he goes into the accommodation. We are talking about private companies and agency staff. There are naturally fears among parents about what might be happening with that. We need a completely different system that is invested in, and not run by private companies for profit. It is time to deal with this with public investment.

Sentiment score: -0.07