Taoiseach told crisis in Louth respite continues
The ongoing crisis around respite care in Louth for children and adults with special needs was raised during the first Dail session of 2018.
There was some relief for local families in December as a €10milion fund was announced to help address shortages in the provision of espite care.
But Louth TD Gerry Adams queried measures being taken to help solve the crisis which has plagued families across Louth.
Speaking during Leaders Questions he said: ‘As I told the Taoiseach many times, there are no emergency services and only a limited number of respite care beds in my constituency of Louth.
While the Minister of State’s announcement was presented in part as an urgent response to this issue, it has since emerged that the additional funding is grossly inadequate and a task force to examine the matter has not yet met.
‘In most cases, this involves citizens in a family setting. However, it has emerged that children with a disability who are in the care of the State are being denied respite care facilities.’
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar highlighted the additional €10 million fund for respite care services.
But he added ‘Sometimes, even when we provide financial resources, we can have difficulty in finding staff.
‘ That is something on which we will continue to work and improve.’
He pointed out that later this year the government will also provide a statutory right for all those in receipt of carer’s allowance to see their general practitioner for free.
‘ This comes on top of our decision last year to provide all children with a severe disability with a full medical card as a statutory right for the first time,’ said Mr. Varadkar.