Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chair for allowing me to contribute. I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State. It is great to see them in their new Department. It has been talked about for a long time over the past two and half years. It is there now and we need to move forward on it.

There are a number of issues which I want to raise. I took a phone call this afternoon from a mother whose autistic child had been seeing a consultant paediatrician, but the language or attitude that was used by medical personnel greatly disturbed me. We had the launch this morning of the autism awareness programme in the Leinster House complex of the Oireachtas. There is a wider issue out there in respect of attitudes right through society, including among very educated and learned people. This mother forwarded to me some documentation which I will be raising at a further level. There is an attitude there. I believe that all of us, including Ministers, must make the case that people need to have a sea change in respect of attitudes towards people with disabilities. We are trying to ensure our society is all-inclusive but there is a challenge right through all the services. Indeed, there is a challenge in terms of some of the attitudes in the services. I am reluctant to say that. One would think that the people providing the services were paying for them out of their own pockets when they are charged with the responsibility of giving services to people with disabilities. There is a challenge here. They have an attitude, even towards public representatives who contact them on behalf of families, which we all do on a daily basis. I would like the word "attitude" to receive a significant mention.

A previous speaker spoke about respite. When some people talk to families about respite, they say they might be able to get it three or four hours away. It is frightening for families to hear that there is no respite, or that they might receive it in Dublin, Louth or Donegal. People in Cork have been told that there may be respite in Donegal. In all fairness, what is an official trying to do when he or she says that to a family that is in dire need? Is he or she trying to demean or belittle the family further, or drive them from what is a very challenging position for them? We need to be conscious that these attitudes are there, that we understand them, and that we need to drive them out of the system to ensure people are working together on this.

Throughout this debate, the Minister and the Minister of State have mentioned their own budgets. First of all, the attitude of both of them in how they are going about their business is very welcome. I ask them to continue with that because it is refreshing, to be honest. In respect of the capital budget, where are the Ministers with shovel-ready projects? As I understand it, there is unspent capital even for the first quarter of 2023, and when we move to the end of 2023 there will still be money which has been allocated from the Department for capital projects within the HSE which will be unspent. We all know of the absolute need for those projects and facilities to be put on the ground. Perhaps the Minister and the Minister of State might tease out the position with regard to the unspent money. Will they explain to the committee how serious the Department and the HSE are about ensuring that the envelope of money they have for capital projects is spent, and that the badly needed services or structures are in place for people with disabilities, their families and their communities?

I want reassurance in respect of an ambitious children's respite project in Kanturk. Could I be given similar reassurance in regard to the equestrian centre we are also trying to construct in Kanturk, which is at the planning and tender stage at the moment? Where are those projects in respect of the capital funding for 2023?

I will leave my contribution to those questions. I might come back in at the end, very briefly. I thank the Chair.