Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath, is an able and passionate advocate of people with disabilities and I am delighted to work with him. He was going to come back to Senator Dolan in that regard. I am keen to reiterate the point made by the Minister of State. When we consider the provision of disability services, we must consider them in their totality. I know that Pat Healy, the national director for social care for the HSE, made this point at the time of the publication of the service plan, as did the Minister of State who issued a statement clarifying the situation. We need to consider the overall provision of services and the fact that some people who in the past may have been availing of personal assistant hours are now availing of a different service or benefiting from different additional investment that we have made in respect of disability services. That was the thrust of the argument being put forward by the Minister of State.

Let us consider the fact we are going to see home support hours increase and centre-based respite nights for people with disabilities increase on last year's target. We are seeing a significant increase in facilitating movement from congregated to community settings. We are seeing the maintenance of all-day service provision. We are obviously going to see improvements in terms of the reconfiguration of services for children with disabilities in terms of the associated targets.

Disability services rightly have received a significant increase in investment in budget 2017. That is for a very good reason. Considerable work needs to be done in this regard. My view and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, is that we need to look at how we empower people with disabilities to have a greater say on this budget. I feel very strongly that the State's responsibility to people with disabilities does not end when the State writes a cheque to the service provider. The totality of the debate should not be about the size of the budget, but rather the impact of that budget on the lives of people with disabilities. I think and certainly hope there is cross-party consensus on this.

The task force on personalised budgets which the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, established last year can unlock huge potential in this sector. I meet people on an almost daily basis in my interaction with people with disabilities in my constituency office and my departmental office. I hear from people who ask for a greater say over how the State's funding is spent as it affects their lives.

Many members will know the group An Saol, which is a group of largely parents and some siblings who have relatives with an acquired brain injury. The State has provided services for these people. Their families are very much of the view that if they were allowed a greater say, they could spend the budget much more effectively to deliver a much more meaningful service. As part of the HSE service plan, we have launched a pilot project allowing An Saol to interact with the HSE. It is not asking for additional funding but for a greater input because its members know how to spend it better than a bureaucracy does. It was hard to have this discussion in the years of cuts, but now that we are back in years of increases there is not only an economic but a moral onus on all of us to ensure we can greater empower people with disabilities as regards their services.

Senator Dolan will hear from the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, on that. I suggest the disability budget and service plan should be viewed in terms of the totality of increases which is quite significant.