Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their opening remarks. I really welcome the inclusion of disability and equality under the same roof. It makes absolute sense. It resonates with the Equal Status Act. When I think of all those rights, it is fantastic. The lawyer in me gets absolutely thrilled with the notion of this Department. The Minister has a fantastic vision for it and I congratulate him on it.

I deal with an organisation in this regard, whose motto on the provision of services is that it wants the people with whom it engages to "live their best life". In everything I do with engagement with regard to disability, that is also my guiding principle. How does one ensure that a person can live their best life? With the Minister and Minister of State, and with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, I see that we have a cradle to elder years provision here now, finally. That is a fantastic vision. I really embrace it. It looks like money is following it also, which is fantastic.

I shall now turn to a few issues of concern for me from the moment of birth, let us say. Given that there are both pre-Covid and since-Covid situations, and naturally there are other issues around maternity and women giving birth at the moment, but even pre-Covid, the diagnosis of a disability and parents being told their child has a disability has, on occasion, been done in the coldest of ways, on corridors, lacking compassion, in a matter-of-fact manner that might be reasonable to healthcare professionals who are used to it. To be fair, this manner is not synonymous with the professionals' personalities but I have heard horror stories of people being told fairly life-impacting and major news in the coldest way. I would like to see a training programme provision in the supports to ensure sensitivity to what it is for parents to receive that news and everything that flows from that. This would also look to make sure the care packages come in immediately. There seems to be a delay at the moment. In one instance I am dealing with at present, the baby was born in July and will be perhaps next February before the medical card is available to them. The parents must prove that their child has a disability, when it is very obvious that the child has a disability. There seems to be some sort of bureaucracy around that, which I would love us to break through and deal with.

I love the Minister's embrace of having representative groups at the policy table, which is very important and I really honour that. We need people whose lives are impacted to have an absolute say in the making of policy from day one. Making sure that organisations such as AsIAm have a seat at the table in everything that affects autism is really important, for example, with regard to having seats on boards and having statutory instruments amended.

Another issue is a transport matter that I have brought up on a few occasions in the four months I have been in the House. The criteria for the primary medical certificate fall far short of what they need to be. People who are amputees who are missing only one upper limb suddenly do not qualify for that. The criteria are completely outdated and antiquated and this matter needs a review, please.

I am curious about, and would love the Minister's comments on, his compellability. Is it merely advocacy at the Cabinet table or just how much does he get to command response from other Departments? How much has the Minister been empowered?

I wish to make two points on employment. The Houses of the Oireachtas ran the Oireachtas work learning, OWL, programme with WALK in Drimnagh. This was a fantastic success that was really celebrated. Obviously, the programme has been arrested because of Covid but could we look at working with that organisation to have its feedback on how the model worked? It was certainly fantastic.

However, people with disabilities such as dyspraxia on community employment, CE, schemes are afraid to ask about their security of tenure so they and their families live in fear of what will happen next. What happens at the end of the CE scheme and they are relying on extension after extension? We could have something more bespoke working beside them. Well done; this is fantastic. I am very excited about what we can do in this regard.