“Dignity” needed for intellectually disabled adults, says O’Callaghan

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan has said that adults with intellectual disabilities deserve to live with “dignity, security, and independence”, but the government’s commitment to the issue is lacking.

The Dublin Bay North TD has raised the issue in the Dáil on numerous occasions in recent weeks, and he said that “parents need to be sure that their daughters and sons will be cared for after they are gone.”

The Soc Dems TD said he has been contacted by constituents who are “extremely worried” about what will happen, or who will care for their loved ones, after they die.

Per O’Callaghan, there are over 1,500 adults with intellectual disabilities living with family carers over the age of 70.

He noted that the HSE’s disability capacity review, published in 2021, identified the need for 3,900 additional residential places for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Despite the HSE’s forewarning that capacity needs to be improved, figures released to O’Callaghan show that just 72 new residential places will be provided in 2026.

Per O’Callaghan, the government’s prudence on the issue is a perfect example of their attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities.

“Adults with intellectual disabilities deserve to live with dignity, security, and independence – and their parents need to be sure that their daughters and sons will be cared for after they are gone; This should not be too much to ask for in a country where the government has billions at its disposal,” O’Callaghan said.

He said that people who have a family member with an intellectual disability are “battling at every corner” for therapies, school places and respite services.

“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,” he said.

O’Callaghan stated, “these families need much more than sympathetic words; they need urgent action to be taken, funding ring-fenced and a far more ambitious plan put in place to ensure that elderly parents do not have to worry about what will happen to their children after they die.”

In the Dáil in February, O’Callaghan asked Tánaiste Simon Harris, “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?”

In response, Harris said, “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,” he said at the time.

The Tánaiste said that O’Callaghan’s question was “a fair one”, and said, “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.”