David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

This motion, which is in the names of the Fine Gael Party, the Labour Party and the Green Party, was designed to unite, not divide, this House. I regret that in its lengthy amendment the Government has chosen to reject the central premise of the motion, that of the convening of a disability summit on publication of the disability Bill. Such a summit would allow for the examination of the Government's plans to allow for the progressive realisation of rights to services, which is long overdue. If the Government had been willing, it would have shown good faith. It would have proved to people with disabilities and their families that the Government was willing to engage in partnership with them in a genuine attempt to reach an equitable solution. The Government talks a good deal about the Opposition bringing forward constructive suggestions, but the Opposition has come together to put forward constructive suggestions in good faith.

It is deeply disappointing that the Government has resorted to listing its achievements in a self-congratulatory manner rather than addressing what needs to be done to ensure equal citizenship rights for people with disabilities. The "Look at all we've done for you" tone comes through loud and clear. It is patronising.

In the past 40 years, men have walked on the moon, we have sent robots to the surface of Mars, we have seen the end of apartheid, the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the explosion of the information age with the Internet and huge strides in medical science, nanotechnology and so on. Ireland is at the cutting edge of this technology and it has taken its place proudly among the nations of the earth. As the country holding the EU Presidency, we recently welcomed an additional ten countries to the Union. The people of Ireland have created the economic miracle of a stable economy, high growth rates, massive Exchequer surpluses and record employment levels. We have achieved much and have been encouraged to celebrate. In the context of those national and international achievements we have every reason to be ashamed of the fact that in the middle of the fourth year of the 21st century we are still debating ways to vindicate the rights of people with disabilities.

We have no reason to be proud that one in every ten citizens in our country does not enjoy the same rights as the other nine. We should be thoroughly ashamed that in prosperous Ireland, the envy of the EU, television programmes such as the recent "Prime Time" documentary show the stark reality of the lack of basic services for children with intellectual disability and the lack of respite care and other supports for their families. It should be to our eternal shame that in 21st century Ireland, people like Charlie and Ann Cooley can only contemplate death for themselves and their intellectually disabled son rather than leave him to the vagaries of a State care system in which they have no faith.

In December 1997, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Cowen, stated:

It is not acceptable that a parent of a son or daughter with a mental handicap should have to worry about who will look after their child when they are no longer able to care for him or her. I intend to ensure that their fears are allayed.

Eight years later, circumstances have not changed. To be fair, the short-lived Cowen plan made a small dent in some waiting lists, but the money soon drained away and the strategy has run into the sand again. Other political choices took over. Few fears have been allayed.

Last year, this country was awash with colour, enthusiasm and celebration, and rightly so. We all remember it. We "Shared the Feeling" of the Special Olympics wholeheartedly. The opening and closing ceremonies in Dublin made us cheer and cry simultaneously. The athletes demonstrated their extraordinary talents and abilities. We saw legions of volunteers, and host towns went to great lengths to make their guests feel at home. The sun shone, the world was watching and we, perhaps deservedly, felt good about ourselves. It was fitting, in the European Year of People with Disabilities, that we would showcase the Special Olympics and focus on ability, not disability. There was, genuinely, a place for everyone, and we were all assured that life would never be the same again for people with disabilities. To an extent, that is true. The Special Olympics brought into sharp and glorious focus the achievements possible when people with disabilities are given the opportunity, support and resources they need to achieve their full potential. It was not a new message, but it was perhaps better visually displayed. Hopes were high last year; 2003 was a "feel good" year.

The year 1997 was a "feel good" year too. It was a "feel good" year for people with disabilities and for carers and advocates. The Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities reported in 1997. The report was a landmark document with over 400 recommendations. The most pivotal recommendation was the enactment of a Disability Bill to set out the rights of people with a disability and a means of redress for those whose rights are denied. Hopes were high. At last, equal citizenship rights were on the horizon, if not immediately, then surely within a short time. The economy had improved. The lean years were over. Surely the time had come. That was eight years ago.

The commission stated:

This in an ambitious report which, when the recommendations are implemented, should change the world for many people with disabilities, including their families and carers. That is no less than people with disabilities deserve and what they, as equal citizens of this State, are entitled to.

The reality is different. Much of the hope has abated and anger and frustration has taken its place. Unfortunately for many, the world has not changed. Two years since the last Bill was withdrawn, we wait in vain for the disability Bill as another Government deadline flies by.

The Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities took the unprecedented step of meeting again, in public, this year to urge the Government to publish the disability Bill. It expressed disappointment that the rate of change for people with disabilities was so slow. It deplored the lack of citizenship rights and urged the Government in this regard. Unfortunately, the Government, while repeatedly promising to publish the Bill, has failed to deliver. We are told there has been ongoing consultation, that the Bill is before Cabinet, that changes need to be made, that it is a priority and that we will have it some day soon, but not yet. We need to get real. We all know that the main fear of the Government is what it will cost to vindicate the rights of our citizens with a disability. That, it appears, is the bottom line about which the Government is worried.

I remind the Government that we are committed in international law to vindicate the rights of our citizens with disabilities. Ireland is a signatory to the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Through that covenant we are obliged to take positive action to reduce structural disadvantages and to give appropriate preferential treatment to people with disabilities to allow them to participate fully within society. The covenant also reminds us that we will almost invariably have to spend more money to help overcome the barriers. Policy choices have to be made. I say to the Minister of State opposite that we should no longer avoid the choices.

People with disabilities are spouses, parents, children, students, workers, consumers, tenants, householders, passengers, taxpayers, patients, neighbours, friends and families, but they are not treated equally. Unemployment rates are higher, educational supports are more difficult to access and basic services are lacking.

We disable people by not providing the appropriate supports they need to reach their potential. We further disable people by placing barriers in their way. We need to work to release the potential of people, not disable them further. I call on the Minister of State to join us in that task. We want to help the Government in this way. We do not want to politicise this issue.

How can we stand over the fact that only 42% of people with a disability are in employment, half the rate of employment among the rest of the population? Is there any excuse for the fact that households headed by a person with a disability are even more at risk of poverty? According to the Combat Poverty Agency they are the highest risk group, even higher than they were ten years ago? In a country awash with money, it is damning that two thirds of households headed by a person with a disability fall below the 60% median income line.

These figures are scandalous. I am sure none of us in this House likes what they say about us, our priorities and the kind of Ireland we have become. Why, after ten years of continuous economic growth, are disability and poverty still inextricably linked? Why are people with disabilities and their families still marginalised within society? How can the Government claim to rest on its laurels in the face of such stark facts?

The Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities recommended three forms of payment to people with a disability, among them a cost of disability payment. This recommendation echoed the terms of a 1993 UN resolution which said, "States should ensure that the provision of support services takes into account the costs frequently incurred by persons with disabilities and their families as a result of disability." The National Disability Authority's recently published research report into the cost of disability endorses the commission's recommendation that participation should be facilitated. There is no sign of a cost of disability allowance nor any promise of one in the Government's list of achievements and promises which forms the basis of its hollow amendment to this motion.

People with disabilities should not have to rely on the goodwill of the general public. They should not have to try over and over again to convince the Government that, as equal citizens of the State, they should enjoy the same rights and privileges as their able fellow citizens. We need the disability Bill to impose a duty on those who would provide public services to include the needs of our citizens with disabilities. One of those who made a submission to the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities said, "People with disabilities do not want to be pitied, nor do they want their disabilities to be dismissed as of little importance. All that is required is a little respect and basic needs and rights. Surely that is not too much to ask."

This evening's motion says it is not too much to ask. Basic rights and needs are not too much to ask of any civilised, prosperous, grown-up society like ours. It is not simply a question of money. It is a question of joined up Government and of creating for ourselves a more civilised society where we recognise the human rights and dignity of people with a disability and in which we give them the support and, where necessary, the care they need. It is a mark of a mature society not simply to apportion blame or claim credit. We should share responsibility and commitment and work towards a vision and a programme of action to achieve the common good. The common good demands that we vindicate the rights of people with disabilities and ensure that people who are marginalised excluded and under-valued are allowed to achieve their full potential and are supported in doing so.

Despite all the Government says it has done, the United Nations committee on economic, social and cultural rights sounded its worries about the persistence of discrimination against people with physical and mental disabilities in Ireland in 2002. That is hardly surprising when we have people confined to psychiatric hospitals whose mental health would allow them to live well in the community, when people with intellectual disabilities are still living inappropriately in psychiatric facilities, when we have a major social crisis caused by the persistent marginalisation of people with a disability, when our ability — or more correctly, the political will — to accommodate them properly and meaningfully in society is largely absent. For years, people with disabilities have listened to words such as "mainstream", "integrate", "empower" and "enable". It is now time for action.

The Government has nothing to fear from the publication of the disability Bill. Perhaps the Government is playing politics with its Bill. It is unlikely that the Bill, as published, will be the magical solution to all the problems experienced by people with disabilities. Why has the Government postponed publication of the Bill until after the local elections? The Government should publish the Bill and let us debate it. There is no legislation that cannot be improved. I urge the Minister to publish the Bill and to take example from the Minister for Education and Science who, to his credit, will send a very different Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill to the Seanad from that which was first published. The Joint Committee on Education and Science heard 52 submissions on the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill. The select committee had lengthy discussions on Committee Stage and the Minister has changed the focus of the Bill and has changed its title. It has become much more positive. There is nothing wrong with debating a Bill. I ask the Government to publish the disability Bill, bring it to the House and let us debate it and improve it, if necessary. Let us work together. This should not be a political issue but by postponing publication of the Bill the Government is making it one. The Minister for Education and Science engaged with the select committee on Committee Stage and the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill has been improved dramatically.

In tandem with the publication of the Bill and its passage through the House, we need to have a disability summit. This would engage the disability sector and the Government in the implementation of the Bill. It would mean the Government would have to produce another national development plan, effectively a national development plan for people with a disability. None exists at present, as the "Prime Time" documentary showed. This would show that the Government means to deliver the services and that people with disabilities would not have to wait and hope on every budget day for a famine or a feast to fund services. This has been the pattern over the past decade and we must break out of this mind set.

Such engagement would also negate the consistent background briefing which says that rights are too expensive, that we would break the country if we gave rights or that people with disabilities will clog up the courts, spending scarce resources on taking the Government to task. There is no need for such confrontational talk. There is no reason to think a rights based disability Bill would lead to further litigation. In fact, the lack of a Bill leaves people with no option other than to go to court. Three or four of the families featured in the "Prime Time" documentary ended their submissions by saying they had to go to court. Families are being forced into court in an attempt to get services, support and rights. That is not good enough.

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