Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Michael Cahill (FF), Kerry This is a very important Bill. As the Minister is aware, disability services in Kerry face huge challenges, including staffing shortages, long waiting lists for children's assessments, respite for children and a lack of adult residential and respite care. There is a huge backlog in relation to assessments of need and huge issues with services, accessing services and staffing. As the Minister is aware, the HSE and Kerry Parents and Friends Association have struggled with recruitment, which has severely impacted all services, including residential and respite care for both adults and children in our county. There are massive issues and gaping gaps for children with profound disabilities when they reach 18 years of age and transition out of child services. Parents and their families are on their knees. They are at the end of their tether and genuinely face burn-out when it comes to services, respite and residential shortages right across the county. At this stage I would say they are burnt out from fighting on behalf of their loved ones and lobbying us politicians for what should be a basic human right. We are coming from a very low ebb when it comes to disability services. We are still in the dark ages. I have met many of the families in County Kerry and their loved ones. I have met many of their mothers. What these wonderful families have been put through is absolutely heartbreaking. They are providing the State with a massive service with little or no help. They are caring for their loved ones on a 24 hour per day basis, seven days per week, all year round. They have no choice but to carry out their duties, more often than not without a wink of sleep. Many of these families in our county have not received a night's respite in seven or eight months. Many have had to forego important family events because they cannot get respite. If anyone believes this is acceptable, they are living in cloud-cuckoo-land. This is appalling. It is an absolute disgrace, and it has to be changed. It is at crisis point and has been for many years. We consistently hear about the huge budget for disability services. There is no real evidence of this on the ground so far. The families who are directly involved do not see it and those at the coalface do not see it. There is an urgent need for a cost-of-disability payment. Individuals and families are facing savage financial pressures from trying to deal with their disability, especially now with energy costs like gas, oil and electricity at an all-time high. The Government must introduce a cost-of-disability payment in the budget in two weeks’ time. The Minister is aware of the Before We Die campaign. Parents are extremely concerned about what will become of their loved ones when they themselves pass away. This is a real concern and a real issue. I received a reply to a parliamentary question recently which stated there were 500 qualified housing applicants and a mere 12 properties available. As the Minister is aware, I have raised the issue of St. Mary of the Angels in Beaufort, which is a fabulous residential facility and campus, along with St. Francis Special School. I am aware that Crowe consultancy group is looking into the future of St. Mary of the Angels. There is massive potential for this campus. Outside of the buildings there is a school, a special swimming pool and lovely gardens. There are approximately 15 acres of prime development land. It is an ideal location in the heart of our county, in mid-Kerry, with many services already being provided. It is the ideal location for a centre of excellence for people with a disability, for day services, day respite, night-time respite and residential care. It will be a missed opportunity if we do not grab this once in a lifetime opportunity to do something big and great that will serve the most vulnerable in society for decades to come, especially in our own county. I plead with the Minister to do everything in her power to give hope to the many families in our county who have been deprived of services they deserve for far too long. It would be sinful if the opportunity were missed. I was obviously delighted to invite an Taoiseach to St. Mary of the Angels recently to meet with the staff, and the staff in St. Francis Special School, to see for himself this fabulous campus and the opportunities that are there. --- 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/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-23