Health Service Executive Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18 ============================================================ Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin I want to raise in the House and with the Minister of State a matter concerning a letter that was recently sent to an older lady in HSE south west who simply could not deal with her adult daughter's disability. She is caring for this adult child on her own. In crisis, she brought her daughter to the local emergency department in a desperate cry for help. Can you imagine, as a parent - as I am and as the Minister of State is - leaving a disabled child at the emergency department? The response from the HSE was a letter to her stating she should be aware there is a legal obligation on parents to support their child financially until they are 18 and up to the age of 23 if they are in education but indefinitely if their daughter has a disability. In other words, until you die you and not the State are responsible. You are personally responsible until you die to accommodate and care for your child. This was in a letter from the HSE. There is no legal basis for that. In my Commencement matter I asked whether that is the view of the State. I ask whether that is the view of the Government because that was the wording it tried to put into the care referendum, that is, the family would become the primary, if not exclusive, unit responsible for the care of disabled citizens. This is completely and utterly contrary to the legal obligations set out under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I want to know whether that is the position because I and tens of thousands of other parents and carers with disabled adult children are now facing this reality, as set out in black and white. The Government could not get the wording in through the referendum. It was the highest-ever rejection of a referendum by Irish citizens whereby 75% of those who voted rejected it. However, this letter shows that ideological and ableist approach to disabled citizens, namely, a charitable approach where you will take what you are given and you will have no rights seems to be the official line. I want to know what the Minister has to say about that. At the moment, 2,000 adult disabled citizens are being cared for by parents who are aged over 70. There are 200 disabled citizens being cared for by parents who are aged in their 80s. I received a letter from a lady who is aged 89 and is a cancer survivor to tell me that her 57-year-old daughter was returned to her from a congregated setting. The 57-year-old daughter is a wheelchair user and has other challenges and this 89-year-old lady is asked to lift her daughter in and out of bed. Her husband is aged 91 and uses a rollator. That is barbaric. When she asked the HSE for help, it refused and said one of the couple has to die and the other has to have a diagnosis of a terminal illness. Is that this Republic? Is that what we stand for? Is that how we treat the parents of disabled children? As Tony Murray with his Before We Die campaign asks, why can we not have support before we die? Why do we have to die not knowing what will happen to our children because I can tell you that those 2,200 will go into crisis? Can you imagine being a disabled adult where you lose your parent and having to cope with that and all the challenges and then become homeless, which is happening, or ending up abandoned in the emergency department? What is the Government's plan? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-18