John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to speak on this important Bill. On the point Deputy Peter Power made, this may not be fully constitutional. In an open democracy, people feel they should have a right to go to the courts if they wish. Prohibitive costs should not be a sole factor for not going to the courts if people genuinely believe they are entitled to certain rights. The Bill is a straitjacket from that point of view.

Obviously we are talking about how the €900 million will be spent, the value for money aspect and the service providers. As Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts for two years, I know this is an area of State services which is not fully accounted for by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Very often section 45 money, which is dispersed by Departments, is not allocated to the people who need it. Some €900 million is being provided but there is a saying in business, "Turnover is vanity and profit is sanity". There is a great deal of vanity involved in the provision of this €900 million. However, the sanity aspect is in what the fund will provide, how it will be spent and whether it will be managed properly so that the people who need the money will receive it. Because the Government is awash with money, it tries to solve problems by allocating funds, not by spending them effectively. This is the wrong benchmark. I hear several Ministers stating that they will give €20 million towards certain projects. It is regrettable that there are not proper procedures in place and evaluations carried out in this regard. If that were done, perhaps less money would deliver much better results.

I compliment Deputy Stanton on the extraordinary work he did on the Bill. He met everyone involved in the sector and listened attentively to their concerns. That is important. It is only when one meets those with disabilities, their immediate families, their carers and the entire sector, that one can speak with authority on these matters. The view of Deputy Stanton and of Fine Gael is that this Bill is greatly flawed. In its programme for Government in June 2002, the Government promised to introduce a Disability Bill which would include the provision for rights of assessment, provision, appeals and enforcement. However, despite repeated Government pledges the published Bill is not human-rights based. It falls short of providing an unambiguous right to progressive realisation of an independent holistic assessment of need, with the guarantee of independent and effective channels for complaint and appeal.

The main flaws of the Bill are that the definition of disability is too restrictive, there is no real right to an assessment, no provision for people to have all their identified needs met over time and the complaints system is not independent. Furthermore, it is cumbersome, expensive and basically incapable of taking account of people's needs. Section 19 has the same effect as section 47 of the last Disability Bill in that it stops people taking legal action to pursue their acknowledged needs. That may be unconstitutional and is a major issue. The courts are separate from the legislative body and this is an apparent infringement on the rights of people to take legal action. It is not right.

The Bill aspires to be positive and includes several important rights but it is easy to say we will give people rights and quite different for people to feel they have those rights. To have rights within your country is to feel that you belong, that you have something to give to the country. There was never any doubt on a personal level that from person to person, those with disabilities have as much to give as those without disabilities. It was on a legislative level that people were being let down and are still being let down. This country has reneged on a great number of people with disabilities purely because of a disability. People are regularly being let down by the Government and despite many debates in these Chambers and coverage in the media, people's lives have not changed.

This Bill has been much talked about and discussed as far back as the collapse of the Disability Bill 2001. Prior to the last election there was great commitment given in this area. Much is made of the announcement made by the Minister in the recent budget but which merely involves a cash envelope of funding which has no immediate short-term effect. Generally speaking, people with a mental disability may not be covered by the Bill.

The definition of disability in the Bill taken from the National Disability Authority Act 1999, is different from that in the Equal Status Act 2000. The Bill's definition says the disability must be "enduring", thereby potentially excluding people with a mental disability. The definition in the Equal Status Act 2000 includes "a disability which exists at present or previously existed but no longer exists or may exist in the future or which is imputed to the person." That is ambiguous and needs to be clarified.

Section 5 of the Bill is incomprehensible. The appeals process is very complex and cumbersome, with hundreds of people needed for this process. We need to ensure that whatever limited funds are available are spent in an effective manner. That is imperative. There has been too much talking and people need action. The legislation is not rights-based, though the Taoiseach is on record as saying that it would be. That is disappointing. The key strategy element of the Bill was to be the right to an independent assessment of health and educational needs undertaken without regard to cost or capacity to supply the service. There was to be a right to a related services statement setting out the services that can be provided within the resources available to the health or educational service provider and a right to redress through independent complaints and appeals mechanisms including ultimately enforcement of decisions through the Circuit Court. This structure gives statute-based systems for assessment, service statements, redress and enforcement. Of particular importance, people seeking services must be allowed to give their input to the assessment process, special liaison officers will be appointed who will help communication between individuals and the relevant public bodies and the redress systems are similar to those applying for planning, employment, equality and social welfare matters.

The Bill also puts the policy of mainstreaming on a statutory footing so that public bodies must cater for people with disabilities as well as other citizens. In addition, public bodies will be obliged to arrange for disability access to public buildings and to provide information and other services in an accessible manner. Of equal importance is the employment of people with disabilities within the public service. Last week a person visited my office who was working in the health board on a temporary contract and was more than suitable for the job. The person was let go after the six month contract was up and though there was a possibility of getting a permanent position, the job was not offered. The lady was working on the switchboard, doing a very good job.

We are talking of an aspirational criterion. There is no right to service. It is important that there is a contract within the public service. The Bill puts a 3% quota for employment of people with disabilities in the public service on a statutory basis. However, the compliance provisions for this section are weak, in that they state that a non-complying body can be "requested " rather than required to comply with section 47(1). That is a major shortfall in the Bill. If we are talking of the employment of people with disabilities we are talking of massive growth in the public service in terms of the large number of jobs created. There is no point in merely paying lip service to the concept. People with disabilities should be working in local authorities and semi-State bodies. We are talking about leading by example, of giving a clear message to the private sector. The State should follow through on this commitment and live up to it. We are talking of people with disabilities who are very competent and well able to hold jobs. It is very disappointing if the State is not fully compliant with the 3% commitment, and that is the case as we speak.

There is no clear definition given. The Bill is big on hype and has failed in many areas. We are talking of one of the wealthiest economies in the world and though we talk of providing €900 million, that is not a huge amount of money. The money is to be provided over a timeframe. The success of this Bill will be determined on the availability of funds in the future. There is no remit for people to raise funds within the timeframe of a budget. Funds are being greatly cut. The disabled person's grant is only small money yet it is being cut by every local authority. There are people in long-term care who need ramps into their houses. They have given great service to the State and may be hospitalised and unable to return home because their houses have not been accommodated to their needs. They seek essential renovations to their houses, perhaps moving shower facilities downstairs, building a bedroom on ground level or installing a ramp, but that work is not being done. We are talking about people with disabilities and the aged, who have been forgotten.

On another, unrelated issue, they were being charged illegally for long-term care. Those with disabilities could come home and cost the State little or no money, yet the State is now paying large monthly sums. I will not even comment on that, since it is before the courts. We clearly have people with disabilities in long-term care who could be accommodated at home for small amounts, yet those funds are not being spent. We can talk a great deal, but local authorities have achieved real value for money. For €10,000 per year, a person could leave hospital care, freeing State contract beds by getting people into their own homes.

Much of this Bill is lip service about giving hundreds of millions of euro. I would like to know where it is being spent and how effective the money allocated is in the provision of services to those with disabilities. In every community there are people who could maintain a job but need a small investment through the local authority, where funds can be spent effectively to obtain real value for money.

I am somewhat disappointed. With the recent wealth in the economy, millions have come from offshore accounts. At the end of the year, the public finances were €500 million better off than anticipated. We are discussing the timeframe, and I would like to know that this cash envelope will go forward. It seems a great deal expressed over several years, but not regarding what is spent each year when one considers independent living and those who depend on job creation in rehabilitation. In a recent case in Sligo, people were working in rehabilitation doing very good contract work, but the tender was awarded by a State body to a Northern Ireland company, meaning the jobs of people who had been getting up in the morning to attend their employment were very much in doubt.

The constraint on the Bill is that there is no right to service. Even after the required assessment has been conducted, the provision of a service is subject to the decision of a liaison officer, which is extremely worrying. The Bill provides for the first time for genetic testing and the processing of genetic data, but it may be necessary to establish such a provision. It would be preferable if that very important ethical issue were separated from the Disability Bill 2004 to allow for proper public debate on its potential consequences. The Minister should certainly consider that.

The inclusion of advocacy services is to be welcomed, but I am concerned that the location of such services within the Government agency Comhairle may make them subject to a conflict of interest where advocacy is required regarding another State body. That it embraces several Departments is a contradiction. Each Minister is to create a sectoral plan containing information regarding the Department's service to people with disabilities. The term "information" suggests no obligation to provide firm commitments in such plans. The Department of Health and Children's on-line plan is largely a restatement of existing policy and refers to implementing Planning for the Future 1984 and the Mental Health Act 2001. Much is a re-enactment of data already on file.

The Bill includes positive action and several important rights, but it is easy to say that we will give people rights and a totally different matter for them to feel they have them. To know that one has rights in one's country is to feel that one belongs and that one has something to contribute to it. That is where the creation of jobs is so important. People must have the capability. There is no regulation of the private sector, and I was rather disappointed that there was no major debate with IBEC, the Small Firms' Association or the private sector in general regarding the potential creation of jobs — that chance was very much lost. Those people can contribute to the economy, but there has not been any major dialogue with the private sector on the possibilities of partnership with State services. The Bill embraces six Departments, but it is regrettable that there is little or no involvement with the private sector, since small businesses are the hub of the economy. In every community and village there are those able to employ people and create jobs. The private sector should be encouraged to create enterprise locally and, equally importantly, to incorporate those with disabilities.

That chance has been lost in this Bill, which is certainly a disappointment. It has been very much hyped and camouflaged by the Minister's announcement of €900 million, which in any sense is not nearly adequate. No accountability mechanism has been built in regarding controls on the ongoing management of funds. We have certainly seen how much money is wasted in the economy. The adjudication by the Government to date on every project has focused on how much is spent rather than on the objective of providing a service that is effective and makes a real difference to the lives of those with disabilities.

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