Don’t Leave Them Behind: A Crisis We Can No Longer Ignore
Across Ireland, hundreds of ageing parents are living with a fear that most of us could never imagine. They are caring for adult sons and daughters with intellectual disabilities while knowing that there are simply not enough residential places available when they can no longer continue.
For many families, there is no plan, no pathway and no certainty. Parents in their seventies and eighties continue to provide round-the-clock care because the State has failed to invest in the residential services that vulnerable adults need and deserve.
The reality is deeply troubling. More than 1,500 adults with intellectual disabilities are still being cared for by family carers over the age of 70, while hundreds more are being cared for by parents over 80. These families have spent decades supporting their loved ones, often with little respite and limited support, yet many still do not know what the future holds.
The lack of residential places has created a silent national crisis. Families are being forced to wait until a parent becomes seriously ill, enters hospital or dies before emergency arrangements are considered. This is not planning. It is crisis management.
At Don’t Leave Them Behind, we fully support the growing Before I Die campaign, which highlights the heartbreaking reality facing thousands of families. No parent should have to spend their later years worrying about who will care for their child when they are gone.
Successive governments have acknowledged the problem, but acknowledgement is no longer enough. Families need action. They need investment. They need a clear commitment to create the residential and supported living places that are so desperately needed across the country.
This issue is about dignity, security and basic human rights. Adults with disabilities deserve the opportunity to live safe, supported and fulfilling lives in their communities. Their parents deserve peace of mind.
The Government must now make residential disability services a national priority and deliver a comprehensive programme of new residential placements without delay.
Ireland’s most vulnerable citizens cannot continue to wait.