"Who will care for our daughter when we are no longer able to do so? Nobody is able to answer that question." These are the words of Tony Murray, a 71-year-old man from Dublin who is at his wits' end looking for answers. Tony and his wife Susan are full-time carers for their 42-year-old daughter, Aoife, who has an intellectual disability. They are just one of the thousands of families where elderly parents are working as full-time carers well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. Adults with intellectual disabilities deserve to live with dignity, security and independence but, as Tony said on Newstalk yesterday, there is no plan to even have a plan for housing adults with intellectual disabilities. There is no thought-out system in place in the devastating circumstance of parents passing away. Instead, what takes place is a haphazard series of events that can be incredibly traumatic for the person who is taken into care.

Tony described how he feels the State is waiting for him to die. Only then might there be an emergency placement for his daughter. Aoife will be taken from her home and brought to a not-for-profit care home that could be anywhere in the country. Over a period of a few weeks, Aoife will have lost her parent, her primary carer, her home, her friends and any semblance of the life she once knew. This is why Tony has started the campaign Before We Die to fight for appropriate housing for adults with intellectual disabilities. It is shocking that such a group needs to exist in a country with the resources at the Government's disposal. These families have already spent their life battling at every corner for therapies, school places and respite services. Nothing is straightforward and everything must be fought for. Now, the very act of planning for a future when they will not be around is met with a brick wall put up by the State. There is no plan and no system. Their cherished son or daughter will have their life upended.

Why are parents in their 70s, 80s and even 90s being left to worry about what happens to their loved ones when they die? Why is there no plan? Why is there no transition to appropriate accommodation for adults with intellectual disabilities?

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this important issue. I thank Tony for his advocacy in relation to his daughter, Aoife, and for speaking up for all the other mums and dads. This is an issue I have come across in my own constituency when I knock on a hall door and meet somebody behind it who, not to age people, is perhaps in his or her 70s or 80s. Deputy Whitmore meets these people in Wicklow too. They have been doing their best. In some cases, the family are working well, but are of course worried about what will happen to their loved one if and indeed when they pass on. It is a real issue. I am familiar with the work of the group Before We Die. I have been following some of its advocacy, particularly in recent weeks. I happened to have a conversation with the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, on this earlier this week. She will meet this group next week, I think on Wednesday, about its specific campaign. When we raise these issues, Government members generally read through statistics and talk about progress we see, and Opposition members talk about areas in which they do not believe we have seen enough progress. I want to be clear that we have not made enough progress in this area. The issue is legitimate and real. It is one reason why we have increased the budget for disability services by 20% this year, so there is an extra €618 million.

Of that, €40 million is going to provide new residential places. I think there is a commitment to at least 152 new residential places. It will require a conversation that is deeper than just the number of residential places because not all people are the same, not all people with a disability are the same and not all needs are the same. The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, is very committed to working with this group but also more broadly, under the national disability strategy, in terms of how we get this plan in place. The Deputy used the word "transition" in the context of transition plans when a person with a disability wants to move from primary school to secondary school. At the other end of the life spectrum, there is the need for that level of transition planning and much earlier conversation. At a high level, we are increasing the disability budget significantly. We now see 8,911 residential places provided for people with disabilities between the HSE and 90 service providers. We have provided significant additional funding this year for more places. That is important and welcome. Between 2020 and 2025, we created 955 new priority one residential places. Is it enough? The answer is "No". Is there complexity beyond the number of places in terms of having a person-centred approach? There is and we look forward as a Government to engaging with this group through the Minister of State next week. I will also ask that she might engage with the relevant Oireachtas committee about how we develop a way forward on this.

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. The disability capacity review in 2021 identified a very urgent need to substantially increase the amount of appropriate housing for adults with intellectual disabilities. What precisely has been done on foot of that review in 2021? The State is literally waiting for the advocates for people with intellectual disabilities to die before anything happens so not only do they lose their parent, carer and person who is looking after them, they also lose the person who has been advocating for them. This is completely and utterly wrong. When will transition planning be put in place? It is welcome that the Minister of State will meet with the group but the Tánaiste cannot stand over, and to be fair, he has not stood over, the current situation. When will the Government act decisively so the State no longer just waits for parents, carers and advocates for people with intellectual disabilities to die before any arrangements are put in place?

It is a fair question. I understand why the Deputy says what he says and why parents can feel like that. Certainly the State is not waiting for that to happen but we need to avoid that emergency and cliff-edge moment where the conversation the State has with the person with a disability only happens at a moment of crisis, personal trauma and loss. That is what we need to get much better at. The Deputy asked about what we have done regarding the disability capacity review. We have genuinely tried to ramp up significantly the investment in disability services, both capital and current. I can point to additional places.

I do think, and I say this humbly because I do not profess to speak for parents or people with disabilities about this, that there are probably mixed needs in terms of services. Some people are living in a family home and may have other family relatives. Other people manage to live reasonably independently in that home and they may need a level of in-reach support. Some people may require a residential place. It involves pulling all that together. Between the Minister and Minister of State using the structure of the national disability strategy, it is our intention to bring that forward. The Minister of State has a meeting next week. In fairness to the seriousness of the issue, I will then come back to the Deputy in writing in terms of the next steps.