Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Many of the issues that relate to disability do not necessarily fall within the Department. We had a conversation earlier. The Department of Social Protection plays a huge part. Many of us have put in the public domain the absolute necessity to follow through on a cost of disability payment. I would much prefer it to happen before the next budget but it definitely needs to happen. Deputy Daly brought up the low level of employment that we have in the State. It is about how the Minister will engage on this with the Minister, Deputy Calleary's, Department. The wage subsidy scheme has fewer people, both employers and employees, than it had in 2018 and 2019. There is still a need for a major overhaul. It does not have sufficient flexibility. I am also saying that the work and access scheme, whether we are talking about assistive technologies, or whatever can be done with regard to reasonable accommodations, needs a huge level of work, and we need a greater level of workability-type projects across the board. That goes without saying.

I would also follow up with what was said earlier about personalised budgets and the complaints that even when they are in play, we need to make sure there is sufficient flexibility to give people the freedom they need. A complaint has been made about personal assistance hours, that sometimes that gets morphed into home supports. They are issues that need to be dealt with. I will ask the Minister to comment.

While I am here, the Minister spoke about the AON. Obviously it has been broken. We have all talked about the issues in relation to education. When does she think that particular part would be dealt with? When will we see an autism protocol that will facilitate those who need an assessment of autism? I do not think anyone would disagree about access to therapies and efficient access to services. I would also say many people would say it is difficult to fill the positions within the CDNT at the same time that you need to fill the positions in schools.