Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Chambers for his comments. I am on the same page as him and many other colleagues regarding the UN Convention. It is the implementation that matters. As I have said before, I use the UNCRPD to strengthen my hand when talking to my colleagues in government, and right across every Department, about resources and implementation. I agree with the Deputy. As I strongly emphasised, there is no point in talking about it. We can sign all the conventions in the world, but we have to ensure that our people have access to services and that their rights are being actively implemented. As far as I am concerned, ratification is stage 1. Stage 2 is implementation.

We have many problems in matching the targets in A Vision for Change. I totally accept that argument. We have to ensure that all people with intellectual disabilities are brought up to their targets. Regarding my own position on supporting people with disabilities, I saw this when we came into the sector two years ago. We had a huge problem with 18 year olds with intellectual disabilities coming out of second-level institutions with no places guaranteed for them. Approximately 1,500 were coming into the system every year with no guarantee of places. Dealing with that particular issue was the first thing I did, because I saw there that there was a cohort of young people with disabilities being left out of the picture. We had to go and get an extra €31 million to provide the places. It is now June 2018 and in recent weeks every young person coming out of a second-level institution at 18 has been informed of his or her place in an adult service in September. That is a start. We have achieved that target.

Another issue which I found very important was the restoration of the old respite care grant, which is now called a carer's support grant. Some 101,000 families had that grant cut. They were left behind and the restoration of that €1,700 for them was very important. Another issue we addressed related to young people with disabilities. We now have 1,000 new special needs assistants in the education system, along with 100 new special education teachers. We have tried to bridge the gap and attack the targets in A Vision for Change to which Deputy Jack Chambers referred. We have started but, as far as I am concerned, we have a long way to go. I will do my best to reach those targets in the next six months.