Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a very quick follow-up question. I noted the comments made by Ms Weldon on the assistive technologies not having budgets at the moment. In that bigger transformative picture on independent living I am very struck by the idea that there seems to be three or four pieces to it. We have focused a lot on the personal assistance service, which is core. In his previous contribution Mr. Cawley referred to the national disability inclusion strategy not recognising personal assistance, creating that equivalence between care and personal assistance and not pulling that out. In the personalised budget piece how important is it that we do not allow personalised budgets, which need to be increased, to let public services off the hook or that people have to personally pay for assistive technologies. There is an almost the capital infrastructure of the investment in assistive technologies. Should that and could that be a separate budget that is made available? I imagine that on occasion these may be very expensive purchases. Should it be separate to the idea of the personalised budget, which is how a person is living his or her life? As a committee we need to keep the pressure on so that the public services are serving everybody and that individuals do not have to try to find private solutions for public services that are falling short.

Does Mr. Cawley have a comment on the issue of personal assistance for those who do not have a physical disability?