Health Service Executive Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18 ============================================================ Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin This is a simple Commencement matter, to ask if the Minister will make a statement confirming that disabled adults have a right to State-funded supports. Do they have that right? I ask the Minister of State, in her final response to me, to give me a yes or no. Do they have a right? In the statement that she read out, which was presumably prepared by a public servant, they say that we will "make every effort to provide the correct supports". That is the same wording as the discredited constitutional amendment referendum, whereby the State would have endeavoured to provide care. They have a fundamental right to care and supports. On this business about how the Minister of State cannot comment on individual cases, this lady revoked her anonymity so that her case could be discussed. Imagine having said to Vicky Phelan that we could not talk about her because it was an individual case. That is a rhetorical device used by the HSE, the Department of Health and other Government agencies, to absolve themselves of any responsibility. On the supports available, in 24 years, I have never had one day of respite. There will be a Private Members' Bill debated here tonight which I will not be able to attend. I have to go home and lift my 24-year-old son. I will not say why, but I have to lift him so that he can have a little intimate care need satisfied. I will be 60 this year. Am I looking into 20 years of this? When he is 40, will I be lifting him in and out of the wheelchair? Is that the Ireland that we belong to? The Minister of State said that the Department wants to have a clear pathway. I am a Senator; I do not know what will happen to my son when I die. When I contacted the HSE in 2019 about that, the social worker said, "Well, he's living with you isn't he? That's the plan." I asked what will happen when I die and the social worker asked if he has a sister. When I said he had, she said, "Well then, what are you worried about? She'll look after him when you die." That is the clear pathway they are talking about. That is consistent with the ableist wording of the referendum. All the Government parties campaigned on a platform of disability supports and rights at the general election. Micheál Martin spoke about it at great length and so did the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris. Since the Government has come into power, all we have seen are loss of income, further poverty for disabled citizens after the budget and letters like this. Where are we? Do disabled citizens have a right to these supports? It is a very simple question requiring a yes-no answer. --- 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