Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Most people with a disability want their own space rather than respite. There are people, however, who will never be in a position to live as independently as they would like and will need supports, whether in separate accommodation or not. Some have such profound difficulties that they will always need the type of wraparound service being provided at the moment in this case.

We will continue this year to maintain the amount of hours, 3.9 million, of respite. That service is being delivered to 2,300 adults. Reconfiguring service will be very important as more people come out of congregated settings. In answer to Deputy Healy that will increase but the 84 places we are talking about are for this year. That is not the sum total of what is being done. We were hoping for 150 but as everyone is aware the resources were not available. We have the resources for next year and the transformation fund with Atlantic Philanthropies will help us to do an enormous amount. I should have included that in my opening remarks because it has allowed us to do things we probably could never have dreamed of doing.

The transformation fund of €45 million will comprise €15 million from Atlantic Philanthropies and €30 million from the Department of Health. There will be four key priorities - a transition to a person-centred model of service and supports, which is decongregation and independent or community living; developing capacity, there is no point saying we will bring people into the community unless the capacity is there to support them; and research and evaluation - I saw Last Tuesday an interesting publication from inclusion networks, which evaluated the experience of 50 people who have moved to community based settings. The majority, not all, were very happy. It is amazing that we expect people to be full of the joys of life but they are exactly the same as us and people expect different things. The fourth priority will be to develop an advocacy framework for people with disabilities, which we have already developed for older people and which is working extremely well. Inclusion Ireland, under Paddy Connolly, is working with various groups around the country to help us develop that and that is going well.

There will be 160 registered nurses intellectual disability, RNID, qualifying this year. We are very lucky that as part of the reform in the Department, Siobhan O’Halloran is one of the directors. She looks after nursing and mental health. She has a particular interest in nursing and started her career as a disability nurse. She is very aware of the value of what a disability nurse does in the congregated settings but also in the community where we will need far more, to co-ordinate and allow people the freedom to ensure they reach their potential. Sometimes I think that we almost expect it to be our potential but that is our expectation rather than theirs.

In respect of social housing, grants and so on, I spoke on a Private Member’s Bill in the Seanad last week on older people and all the same issues come up, how to maintain people in the community; reconfigure the house, the community, the outside space and so on. I do not have responsibility for any of that. I say that not to pass the buck but because I believe it should be under one umbrella. Someone who owns a home is treated differently from someone in social housing, as public representatives we all know exactly what the difficulty is. Was it Julius Caesar who said as soon as everything goes wrong we put a different name over the door or organisation? I do not believe in doing that but I think that in the next Government and I am not certain it will happen because I do not think I have that much influence, we should have a Department of Social and Primary Care which would take responsibility for all of that, the social needs of the person and the primary care as well.

In terms of right now, inasmuch as we have been in negotiations with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the officials have met Bairbre Nic Aongusa who has a very deep and clear understanding of the disability sector. We have talked to the Department about the whole area of environment and disability. However, it is something that we have to negotiate rather than being able to make that decision ourselves, something I hope that people will understand. It is not that we are disagreeing because we agree fully with what has been said.

I shall allow Mr. Pat Healy to deal with the question on transport to day services. We have made significant progress in regard to people leaving second level education. Every year it was a crisis which those of us who have been here for a while will know. Every June and July parents stood outside the gates demanding to know where their children would go to secondary school. We have managed to ensure there is funding. Advanced planning needed to be put in place. The situation where suddenly, at the end of May, some 4,000 people would look for a place needs to be addressed. Therefore, advanced planning is crucial and that has been happening.

Deputy Neville spoke about jobs and asked whether we could increase the percentage of jobs in the public sector. Under the jobs strategy the percentage has been increased to 6%. I always viewed the 3% figure to be the floor rather than a ceiling. The public sector accepted that stance as well because it always breached its target. The new target is 6% and in some cases the public sector has already reached the target.

The excellent jobs strategy was launched by the Taoiseach recently. The collapse of the economy took us to a different space and meant we took our eye off the ball for a long time. The Department of Justice and Equality is responsible for jobs because it is an equality issue. I shall return to my point about an umbrella. Maybe we should be in that space under that umbrella. Jobs cannot just be the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation should play a central role.

I believe one cannot have a jobs strategy without including people with disabilities. I do not think that every one that is registered with a disability will sign on as being unemployed. The numbers will be fairly small but they could grow if we are serious about the matter. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Social Protection have a major part to play in this initiative. Again, its about that umbrella and figuring out how to join up all of the pieces. In saying that, I sometimes get frustrated when I am asked questions about matters for which I have no responsibility.

Yesterday afternoon, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, the Minister for Education and Skills and I launched the new child care pre-school package for children with disabilities. Joining up the three Departments is an incredible piece of work. The initiative will work well but it took the three Departments to come together at official level in order to bring it together. The same outlook is needed in other areas as well but we often do not see it.

I will ask Mr. Pat Healy to deal with the questions on the capital programme. I can confirm that the capital programme is for both nursing homes and disability units. More than anything else, we are determined that the 20% of the beds supplied within the public space which is State-run will continue because we all know, despite the fact that it is sometimes delivered in workhouse style buildings, the care provided is exceptional. People are very anxious to be cared for in those settings and it is important we continue to ensure that happens. I now ask Mr. Pat Healy to deal with the capital programme and transport but he can ask someone else to reply if he thinks it is more appropriate.