State responsibility for care
Mary Lou McDonald challenged the Taoiseach’s remarks about care not being the State’s responsibility and argued carers were being badly treated. The Taoiseach replied on disability commitments, the optional protocol and a means-test review.
It is very much the business of the State to support those who need care and those who provide care. The Taoiseach's recent comments in the media stating his position that the provision of care for vulnerable citizens is not the responsibility of the State are entirely wrong. They are, of course, very informative because they go some way towards explaining why carers have been so badly treated, why they have been left behind time and again and why so many find themselves burnt out and in a desperate lifelong battle with the system in the context of simply getting the basics that they need to provide the care that their loved ones require.
I put it to the Taoiseach that it is time for a sea change in terms of how the Government regards and understands the provision of care. We have a motion before the House this evening which, finally, makes provision for the ratification of the optional protocol on disability. It would also provide for respite services and therapies, the very things that a decent Government and State should and must provide for those who require care and for those who provide it.
Comment on this
On the optional protocol on disability, the previous Government, which I had the privilege to lead as Taoiseach, signed the UN convention. The current Government made a commitment to ratify the optional protocol. We will do so. Earlier today, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, received approval from the Cabinet to establish the interdepartmental working group to make that possible. That has been decided, and we will honour that commitment in the programme for Government.
Following on from her budget announcement, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has announced that a review of the means test and the system of payments to carers is under way. Those are very meaningful things.
As is always the case, the Deputy misrepresented what I said. I said nothing at all about vulnerable people. I said that parents have responsibilities to their children, that families have responsibilities to each other and that care is a shared responsibility. It involves families, the State and everyone else being involved in doing what is best and what is right for those who need care. Any right-thinking and reasonable person would agree.