Danny Healy-Rae warns of crisis in respite and residential care

I want to thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very laudable motion before us here this evening because what it reads is the cost of disability. We all know that any person that has a disability, it costs them more just to survive and to carry on. And I suppose they have a lot of issues and people with serious disabilities and for their carers, respite and carry is practically non-existent when it's needed. And residential care places for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, we're very short of those minutes. And I can highlight one case where a person in serious need and authorities of residential care was offered a place in County Mead, all the way from County Kerry up to County Mead. And that's absolutely ridiculous, Minister. And we're still shocked of respite beds in the southern side of the constituency. And you see, I had it all the summer, carers and daughters and sons caring for their elderly people who have disabilities and they just wanted to go on holidays for a week and there was no place for respite in any of the district or community hospitals. They were all full. And people with a disability are entitled to four weeks of respite in a community hospital setting. But that doesn't materialise. It doesn't happen, Minister. In Kerry, it doesn't happen. And we have a wonderful place, Mary of the Angels, in Beaufort and Kerry, which was donated by the Doyle family many years ago. And that's been closed by stelt because as the people die away there, that bed is never filled again. I can't understand this, Minister. And at the same time, then, we're offered that the only place is either temporary or meet for someone that needs new residential care that appears new that won't be left into Mary of the Angels. I can't understand that, Minister. And I'm asking you to look at that. That grounds, there's 40 or 50 acres that could be expanded. We could have all kinds of different kinds of respite there. It should be developed as a model for the rest of the country because the room is there to do it. And the basics are there already, swimming pools and all the different kinds of things that are needed for people with disabilities. The one thing that hurts me very much, Minister, is when I see elderly people minding their elderly children. And I'm talking about people in their late 70s and early 80s. And the question they have for me, who's going to see after our Johnny when we are gone? We're in our last legs. And who's going to see after our Mary or Julie or whatever? I feel for those people because they've done their best all their lives. And we should be giving them better assurance and reassurance that their children will be seen after. These children might be in their late 40s, early 50s, and it's a fierce worry to their parents. Home helps. Many people are allocated home help. But they're allocated the time, Chairman, but nobody turns up because we're told we don't have them. We don't have the home helps. And there are many instances where one goes and they can't operate the house on their own. And that's happening too much. And people have to stay in bed for an extra day. You know, that's not right because they seize up. And we'd all seize up if we stayed sitting down long enough now. We wouldn't move after a few days. But it's important to those people that they have a routine and that they're seen after and got out of bed and put them sitting in a chair or take them to the bathroom or take them wherever they want to go. But too often it's not happening for these people in Kerry. And I'm asking you to listen to us because those people with disabilities, they have a role to play. They're part of us and we want to ensure that they're properly seen after. Thank you, Chairman and Minister.