Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity on behalf of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters to raise a number of issues. We issued a report recently on the crisis in the disability services. We meet in public session every Thursday morning and have people with lived experience, their families and communities before us. They give us chilling and difficult evidence on people with disabilities and the difficulties they face daily. As we go into the budgetary process, the challenges relate to a funding mechanism and multi-annual funding to build capacity within the disabilities services.

As our population grows, more and more people with disabilities are showing. When young people get the assessment of need, there are no therapies available in the public sector and families are going privately. I honestly believe the State will be held accountable in years to come for what it is not providing now. We need to look at that and at respite care, residential care and building capacity within the HSE and service providers, some of which are section 39 organisations. That brings me on to pay parity within section 39 organisations and the retention and recruitment of staff. People in those organisations see better terms and conditions in the section 38 organisations and the HSE and are moving from those, so there are challenges there.

On secondary benefits, people with disability may be able to find employment, even for a few hours a week, but then face a challenge regarding their medical card. For a person with a disability, the medical card is golden and provides for their additional medical needs. That should be looked at.

On carer's allowance, sometimes a person takes time off or stays within the home to provide care for a partner, son, daughter, sibling or parent and, because of the means test, does not get that allowance. There should be something looked at. They are providing a massive service for the State. Could we look at care-assessed rather than means-assessed? If we do a cost-benefit analysis in terms of the State, there would be a positive outlook for it.

There is a unit in the Taoiseach’s Department on children but there needs to be a cross-departmental approach to looking at daily challenges faced by people with disabilities, their families and communities because it is at crisis point. We need to expand the services and include as many people as possible in recruitment and retention.