Sir, – Your article outlining the case of Ian Carmody ("Limerick disability centre's service 'unacceptable' due to funding shortfall", News, October 9th) could be written about thousands of adults whose day service has been cut due to Covid-19.
However, to blame Covid is to ignore the fact that the services were struggling to cope before the arrival of the pandemic.
I was struck by the "related" news articles which appeared on the online version of the newspaper: "Warning over lack of resources for people with disabilities", (October 9th); "Urgent reforms needed for disability service provision" (August 3rd); and "HSE says provision of disability services by voluntary bodies not sustainable" (August 3rd).
These articles summarise the crisis facing adults and their families with intellectual disability.
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Successive government underfunding of the services has left parents, many of them in their seventies and eighties, to cope with little confidence or hope that the situation will improve in their lifetime.
The reality is that such services will never return to “normal” unless there is a significant rethink on the part of the Government and appropriate funding is provided. – Yours, etc,
TONY MURRAY,
Fairview,
Dublin 3.