Aontaím leis an Taoiseach i dtaca lena fhocail chomhbhróin faoi bhás Dolores O'Riordan. Tá ár smaointí lena teaghlach agus a cairde ag an am brónach seo.

On the questions put by the leader of Fianna Fáil, perhaps Deputy Micheál Martin will support Sinn Féin's Private Members' motion this evening on the trolley crisis.

I return to the issue of the absence of adequate respite care services for children living with a disability. The Taoiseach has often said he welcomes constructive proposals from the Opposition. On 6 December last year, when I put to him a modest, costed proposal to increase respite care services, he committed to examine it. I also sent him a detailed copy of my proposal in writing, but he has yet to respond to me. One week after I made my proposal, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, announced that he had secured an additional €10 million for respite care services. 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. An investigation by the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, has found that the State has been denying the necessary supports to a woman who has been fostering for 14 years Molly, a teenager with Down's syndrome and severe autism. Molly's carer accused the Health Service Executive and Tusla of abandoning her and leaving her financially, emotionally and physically drained. The Ombudsman for Children found the HSE had abdicated its responsibility to Molly's foster mother by refusing to fund respite care for her. As I am sure the Taoiseach knows, this has caused horrific stress. The report of the Ombudsman for Children is damning. It found that the State's actions had a negative effect on Molly who did not have the opportunity to reach her full potential and that the actions of the State were contrary to fair and sound practice. There are 472 children, including Molly, with disabilities in the care of the State. Among his recommendations, the Ombudsman for Children calls for a respite care action plan for children with a disability in the care of the State and the community at large. While these recommendations have been accepted by the HSE and Tusla, the former has pointed out that its commitment in this area is ultimately resource dependent, in other words, it is now over to the Taoiseach.

This is not another shameful, historical episode of neglect or ill treatment of children in the care of the State. It is occurring now and we will not be able to blame anybody else if it continues because it is taking place on our watch. Does the Taoiseach accept that the report is damning? Does he accept its recommendations and will he provide the resources needed?

The Government decided this morning that we would not oppose the Sinn Féin motion on hospital overcrowding. We want to be in solutions mode and will discuss solutions. For this reason, we will table an amendment, but will not oppose the motion. We hope the debate on the matter this week will be solutions-focused, something I believe we all want.

The proposal Deputy Gerry Adams made to me before Christmas did not add up because, as he knows, Sinn Féin's alternative budget proposed a smaller increase in funding for health and disability services than we had allocated. We responded in kind, which is more important, by providing an extra €10 million for respite care services in the year ahead.

Later this year we 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.

I was asked about the report on the case of Molly. Tusla and the HSE accept the Ombudsman for Children's report in full and are committed to implementing its recommendations. I know that the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, with whom I discussed the matter this morning and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, take the findings very seriously. The investigation highlights a gap in the provision and co-ordination of supports and services by Tusla and the HSE for children in foster care with a diagnosed moderate or severe disability. We all respect and value the role of foster carers, particularly foster parents who take on children with special needs, additional needs or disabilities. The report published by the Ombudsman for Children on the complaint which was made in 2014 by a foster carer on behalf of her foster daughter is of real concern to the Government. Action is already under way, including a review of the supports available to Molly and monitoring her care to ensure her needs will be met into the future. Furthermore, Tusla and the HSE are reviewing all similar cases of children with moderate or severe disabilities who are in foster care with a view to maximising the level of co-ordination, co-operation and support. There must be many other Mollys and we want to ensure the State agencies will review all similar cases.

We must continue to support foster carers who, like Molly's family, have opened their homes to children who cannot live with their own families. As I mentioned prior to Christmas, we provided an additional €10 million for respite care services to support people with disabilities throughout the State and their carers. A joint working protocol has been agreed between Tusla and the HSE. It has been in place since last year and is to ensure Tusla and the HSE will work more closely together. However, it only came into effect on 1 January this year, only a number of days ago. Both agencies are absolutely committed to ongoing implementation of the protocol throughout the country.

I am disappointed with the Taoiseach's answer. Will he send me a detailed considered response in writing to the written proposal I put to him? I will respond to it at that time.

It is welcome that the Taoiseach is saying he will not oppose our Private Members' motion. Ná habair é, déan é. He should not simply talk about it but act on the recommendations we are putting forward.

The Taoiseach says Ministers are taking the report mentioned seriously. That is an understatement. It is a damning report that indicts the State and its agencies for the way it has treated the child in question and her foster mother. I am calling on the Taoiseach to act on the report and provide resources. He did not answer that point. Those involved in the HSE say they are dependent on the resources they are receiving.

The Taoiseach should know that workers in section 39 agencies are balloting on industrial action because they are being denied pay restoration. He needs to give these workers their entitlements, otherwise, added to all of the other problems, the strike will go ahead and the crisis will be compounded.

This is all about rights. Children with disabilities, whether those being cared for by carers in the community or in the care of the State, have rights. The State is actively denying them their rights and I am asking the Taoiseach to correct the position.

We are providing additional resources all the time for the health service and people with disabilities. Obviously, we need to establish what additional resources may be required to implement the report in full and apply it to other similar cases. Certainly that is what we intend to do. 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. I will offer one small example in the provision of special needs assistants. There are now approximately 14,000 in the State. We have more special needs assistants than gardaí or doctors. Some seven or eight years ago that would not have been the case. It is one small example of the Government meeting its commitment to provide people with disabilities with the opportunity they deserve to be equal citizens of the State.

I have discussed the matter of section 39 agencies before with Deputy Gerry Adams. I have answered in the House the question of how we intend to proceed in dealing with it.