You can add caring for people with intellectual disabilities to that list. In recent months, the Irish Examiner revealed that the number of residential placements for those with intellectual disabilities in private, for-profit accommodation centres nearly doubled between 2021 and 2024. There are 2,000 adults with intellectual disabilities who live with their parents or primary carer who are over 70 in Ireland today. All have gone to school or are accessing HSE services. But parents like myself and Susan are run ragged full-time caring, and now we’re being told that we have to be lobbyists too.

Source: Irish Examiner February 03, 2026 11:31 UTC