Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Mr. Hession for his presentation. I want to raise a number of issues. He referred to the disability allowance. The Disability Federation of Ireland produced figures roughly a year ago, which indicated that more applications were refused than were passed. The figures were 13,989 applications refused and 13,298 applications granted. Of those appealed, approximately half were granted. I find continually in my constituency office that people are refused disability allowance or carer's allowance but are then granted it on appeal. The process is protracted, long, detailed and difficult. I am sure many autistic people who are applying for disability allowance would find the whole experience overwhelming and may not appeal when they are turned down initially, because not everyone appeals. Can something be done to make the application forms and process more accessible? While all disabled people would be kept in mind, we are talking about autistic people here, so what can be done to make it easier for them? It is an invisible disability so they are often not granted the disability allowance initially.

Has the Department done any work on costing abolishing the means test for carer's allowance and instead making it a needs-based assessment? As the Chair indicated with regard to employment supports, 85% of autistic people are either underemployed or unemployed, according to AsIAm. Mr. Hession indicated some supports but they are not working. Can more be done to support autistic people to get employment? It may be that the attitude of employers needs to be worked on. There may be a lack of understanding, acceptance or supports, but a combination of these needs to be considered.

Mr. Hession referred to the Indecon cost of disability report, which was published more than a year ago after much delay. Dr. Áine Roddy from Atlantic Technological University Sligo was before the committee recently. She indicated that it costs a family with an autistic child €28,000 over and above what it would cost a family without an autistic child to support that child. That includes paying for therapies, because they are not available through the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, and for care, both paid and provided for in the home. What more can be done to address this? The supports in the budget were welcome. All supports are welcome, but many have been overtaken by the cost of living. We need to see more sustainable supports. It would be better if people were able to take up employment, support themselves better and not depend on the State for handouts.

I refer to the structure of the disability payment allowing people to work and earn a certain amount without losing their disability payment or having it be reduced afterwards. Many people do not look for or take up employment because of the fear of losing the secondary benefits, such as the medical card, so that could be examined. I often hear from disabled artists and musicians who work on commission that it is not taken into account that their pay is not a set amount per week. It can vary. Could it be looked at on a yearly basis rather than weekly?