Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I congratulate all the witnesses on this very interesting meeting. We have heard we have the world's first multidisciplinary non-profit organisation and a world first on books published. An awful lot of work has been done in this regard. Just listening to all the witnesses speaking, it is evident that the problems are all being identified but it seems none of them are being addressed. Even regarding technology, as the Cathaoirleach just mentioned, people are old school and unwilling to change their ways. I then listened to the witnesses talking about problems in accessing services. I refer to what the situation would be like if these organisations did not exist. It would mean people without cash would have no hope. It is 2023 and we are talking about this issue. It is just driving me bonkers.

I heard Cír speak about job opportunities being extremely limited. I am really worried about this and more so about younger people who have not got an official diagnosis of being autistic but who are going through the court system. These could be cases involving a misdemeanour, something happening in the family, breaking a curfew or something like that. The courts are looking at people just as personal public service numbers, PPSNs, as usual, but not seeing them in the light of whether they have autism. The child then just gets lost in the system. Have the witnesses come across this kind of situation in their experiences? Is there any way in which we can help with the court system? Senator Black mentioned having a pleasant time with the officers in one Garda car but not so with another. It depends on the experience of individuals and this comes down to training.

There is another issue I am very interested in because of my background working in mental health. Nem was right about this point, which is that someone who has any form of disability is out of CAMHS and has no places to go. There is nowhere, zip, nada. This situation must be addressed and we have been talking about it. My main question concerns tomorrow being the commencement date for the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022. What kind of difference will it make or should it make to people in these services? When it started, I remember working on much of this legislation and researching it. It was predominantly concerned with mental health first. We then started looking into the aspects of disability services, respite services and end-of-life care, and realising this is a huge issue. It is also, however, about giving people rights. What I love about all the witnesses' organisations is that they all are taking a rights-based approach. I know there is a medical section as well and so on. I have referred to this rights-based approach in so many different committee meetings, when it came to issues such as mental health or the Sláintecare report. In the case of every person who needs an assessment, a further diagnosis, or whatever, it should be based on the individual's needs and not his or her means, on the dosh in the pocket.

We are now in the middle of 2023. We have listened to the statements of all of the witnesses and we have listened to others fairly intensively over the last few months and it is clear that we need to get people into the one room to come up with a collaborative plan, to get everybody working together. As the witnesses themselves said, people are working in silos, protecting their patch for fear they will lose their stake in it, instead of sharing the knowledge. Our guests are world leaders. They are proving that this can be done on a not-for-profit basis and yet we are spending billions on our health service while going around in circles. Some are getting thrown out of certain circles.

One of my bugbears is in the area of CAMHS and disabilities where, surprise, surprise, when patients hit 18 years of age they are on their own. I hate using the word "disability" or "disabled" because for me, it is a tag. A tag is applied to a section, the disability section, and it is assumed that people will be grand on their own. They will get nothing in terms of services but the Department will give them a few bob every week. It will give them just enough to keep them happy - not too much but not so little that they will complain. We should be taking these people as stakeholders because this should be about integrating everybody into society and accepting everybody. There is no colour, class, creed or religion when it comes to suicide and it is the same for disabilities.

I am very interested in hearing the witnesses' view of how the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act affects those in the disability sector.