Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Bill. It is important legislation and, as most people said, it came before us in a different guise in 2001. It is a shame it has taken so long to come back to this House. I am aware people have varying views on how it deals with the issues they want addressed.

When one considers the whole issue of disability, it is a case of thinking "There but for the Grace of God go I" because some people are born with a disability and others acquire a disability. Very few disabilities are equal in severity, therefore, to find an all-embracing Bill to deal with each type and level of disability, and the variations, is difficult at the best of times. No one understands the situation as well as those who are close to people with disabilities. Any of us might need the protection of this legislation in the future, therefore, it is important to examine it and how it can be maximised to advance people with disabilities and to be instrumental in sustaining progress in the longer term. This is not legislation in isolation. Significant funding supports it. It has been recognised on all sides of the House that there has been a massive increase in funding.

How to distribute resources on the ground is sometimes the biggest issue. We have given in to despair in the past. I recall being in this House when the Minister for Education was Niamh Breathnach. People alluded earlier to the fact that the Minister for Education and Science suggested that everything is rosy in the garden. I came to this House on a number of occasions to argue a point about remedial teachers with the Minister at the time. I tried to give my version of the statistics, but "lies, damn lies and statistics" was the phrase used in reply, because the Minister's statistics were completely different to mine.

At that time, everyone wanted their children assessed so that they could prove they had a disability such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, Fragile X or whatever was the challenging behaviour or the educational issue. Some 72% of schools in Donegal were supposed to have access to remedial teachers. One teacher appeared to be doing rally driving to five or six schools, therefore, her actual time in any one school was minimal. Thus the number of children being dealt with was also minimal. This was not a reflection on the remedial teacher, it was a reflection on the numbers involved. Nationally, one was talking about hundreds, whereas one is now talking about thousands of people. The argument that was used at the time was why be assessed if a service is not available. The crux of this Bill is similar — why be assessed if the services do not exist to deal with the outstanding issues.

However, time moves on, and time has moved on in respect of remedial teaching. Many more children now have remedial support. Not only have they remedial support but they have classroom assistants, resource teachers and other support mechanisms. I am citing this aspect in order to balance the equation.

Deputy Costello criticised the respite grant. The respite grant did not always exist. The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, introduced it. It is one of the most important supports for people who are under serious pressure 365 days of the year. It can be a very tough station. People survive out of love for the person for whom they care. The respite grant and the availability of some help is very important. I welcome the changes in the recent budget in regard to the respite grant.

I do not believe that if the carer's allowance is not means tested it will fall into the hands of people who will abuse the system. Anyone who keeps a person at home, regardless of their means, does so for the right reasons, therefore, they deserve the support of the carer's grant. However, I am pleased the respite grant has been separated from the carer's grant.

This Bill is just one element of the strategy. I recognise the difficulties some people have with the Bill. However, the fact that it is just part of an overall strategy is very important. I had people coming to my constituency clinic who had just found out that their child who was approximately 14 years of age qualified for domiciliary care allowance and was eligible for various supports. It annoys me that this information is not made available to people following the birth of a child. At birth or around the age of two or two and a half is when disabilities such as autism are identified. Perhaps disabilities such as deafness and so on cannot be identified at birth. However, in this age of communications and technology, there should be a system in place whereby people are informed of their rights. The work Comhairle does has improved the system. It is terrible to think that in this age of technology people are still not fully aware of their rights and entitlements. These people often work very hard just to keep the show on the road. It is not the case that there is no support, it is just that people are not aware of the support available to them.

In many instances people had to go to court to ascertain their rights. The bottom line is that if one goes to court to ascertain one's right to be assessed for disability, while one can insist that one has a right to receive speech therapy, occupational therapy or whatever, professionals are not always available to provide the service. We must examine how we can entice more professionals into training. When I was on the health committee, we examined the whole issue of orthodontistry. Trying to get people to train in orthodontics was quite a feat. The previous Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, worked very hard on this issue. Results cannot be achieved overnight because it takes years to train people. However, we must try to find ways of enticing professionals into the country and retaining them so that the regions get their fair share of professional expertise. Whether through Hanly or whatever, this is the key aspect. If people are assessed and told what they require, the next step is to be able to get professional help for the individual and maximising the services that are in place.

I look at this issue from my perspective. In a region where many professionals appear to be available, they are on the wrong side of the Border. When one lives as close as I do to an alternative system, and one can see that professionals are often available, I would like to see the maximisation of an all-Ireland health facility. This happens in the case of the North Western Health Board more so than it does in the case of other health boards. If we have the means to trade professions and professionals, we should maximise that facility.

I acknowledge the fantastic work being done. One of the obvious examples is Scoil Íosagán in Buncrana for which the Bill is all about integration and trying to minimise segregation. The principal of that school has been outgoing and forward-looking for a long time. On the site of the primary school there is a number of classes for moderately and profoundly disabled. The initial class was for the moderately disabled. One of my first battles in this House with Niamh Breathnach involved trying to get the classroom assistant for the profoundly disabled class when it was set up. I had been told that the classroom assistant was to be moved from the moderate class to the profound, leaving the moderate with no support.

The school has moved on and now there are multiple autism classes in there. Last week, with the support of the Government, we got money for the bus for ICARE, the support group for autism in Inishowen. We had great fun because some of the children got on the bus and would not get off after the photographs were taken because they liked it so much. They wanted a little tour and got it. They got their treat and then we returned to the school.

One can say the Government should be providing such services and that we should not be taking credit for the fact that those people got what they needed. Yet there is a strong working relationship between the support groups and the local community, so it was a big community event for this bus to be launched. There was a sense of fun and of people all being part of one community, as opposed to having the disabled or the service providers and users on one side with the people who did not need the services on the other. A St. Valentine's ball is being held on 12 February to further celebrate the fundraising and the community spirit of ICARE.

The Taoiseach also opened another major development at Cashel na Cor. This was an old Fruit of the Loom warehouse where people decided to create a facility for young adults with disabilities who had moved out of the education system but wanted to stay in education and access sheltered employment opportunities. This too was a combined effort between the support groups, the community and Government. The facility is second to none.

There are also groups in Moville looking to progress pre-school supports and after-school links to the community because in many places, especially rural areas, people, particularly young people with a disability, must move out. From Moville they have moved to places like Malin and Carndonagh to get their pre-school interaction and education. They do not build up a relationship with children of the same age in the town, so the groups I mention are moving to develop facilities. The capital expenditure is important there as is the support for those people to develop those systems.

In Carndonagh we have the Friends of the James Connolly Hospital. The late Margaret Canny, who died this year, did superb work there in maximising services for the disabled and the supports for service users. Julian, who is now in charge of the hospital, has been maximising those services too.

In my area we have groups such as Moville Mental Health and many others working with the health board. Regarding the disabled in my area I have had very positive interaction with the health board personnel. There are certainly issues outstanding but the health board personnel are more than helpful and are open to the concept of new ways of training. When ICARE started it was looking for ABA — applied behavioural analysis — supports and got assistance in that area.

Someone approached me recently who had attended a homoeopath in order to get support for a child. When the person tried to claim the expense back from the Revenue Commissioners using the Med 1 form, the person was told the local general practitioner would first have to agree. The GP however said that as a result of a decision by the Medical Council, or so I understand, homoeopathy services were not to be supported in that way. There may be an issue there. If one tries to use alternative supports there may be a block there which needs to be addressed. I would like that followed up.

Many people are in home situations with a young, adult or elderly disabled person, so they are exercised to do something about it. By going out to do voluntary work they then involve the community. It is important to generate community awareness of what a disabled person can encounter. A simple example is the issue of access to buildings. I agree that 2015 seems a long way off for full disabled access to buildings, but it would be good if there were a community emphasis in each locality. If a bank is not accessible by the disabled and the local community were to express its unhappiness at its friends being unable to enter, it might move ahead long before 2015. Such community activism must be fostered and encouraged.

To plug the Joint Committee on Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, we launched a report last week on volunteers and volunteering in Ireland. People from many walks of life appeared before the committee and some were involved with the disability sector. The Minister and his officials might take note of the recommendations in our report because they have regard to the core of volunteering, of getting people involved initially and of retaining them, as well as dealing with funding. One of the major issues confronted by anyone seeking funding is the variety of sources of funding, with people sometimes falling between stools. We are looking for that to be streamlined. I can refer the Minister to the volunteer report without going through the details now.

Deputy Flynn mentioned the issue of independent living and the one to one initiative. The decision on the community enterprise schemes and the ring fencing of scheme places for the disabled was an important step. The notion of people having to give up their posts after three years was ridiculous since it often took a year to find a person for the post. Because it is such a one to one issue, trust must be built up and other issues dealt with. By the time a person got used to the person with them the time allowed was nearly gone. The move to change that has been important and I want to see it continue and expand. Many people want to be able to do more than they are credited for and can do so if given a little support.

Many people contacted me regarding this Bill. One person welcomed the increased focus on the rights and needs of people with disabilities along with the recent announcement by the Government of the €900 million multi-annual funding package, which the person suggested would go some way towards addressing the underfunding of services and support for people with disabilities. This person went on to say that while the funding is an important and significant development it only solves part of the problem, with much more needing to be done to ensure people with disabilities can truly become equal citizens. Some of those who contacted me focused on the lack of the right-based definition and I said I would express their concerns. They are annoyed that while they had unanimously agreed issues with the Government, they now feel there are many obstacles to accessing support because of the way the Bill is structured.

As I said at the start, though it might not look perfect now, it may evolve positively, and I underline that. I am disappointed the Minister is not here. He answered a letter that I had forwarded to him from a person in my constituency that outlined many of the concerns Deputies have raised about the Bill in the House. He has said that he has noted the concerns and will examine them in the context of further consideration of the Bill on Committee Stage and so on. It is a landmark, and it is important that it be part of an overall strategy; it cannot be taken on its own. The sectoral plans must cross all the Departments. Most issues that come before this House depend on a multi-departmental response. That has not always happened, and I would therefore like to think that this is the start rather than the end of a process, and that those involved will gain confidence in it.

However, the biggest issue is how we get those professionals on the ground to enable those who have had their assessment and are happy with it to get the requisite resources. That cannot be done by a click of the fingers or overnight. The strategy to get more professionals into the system must be moved forward or we will be headed nowhere. This important Bill has the potential to move in the right direction an issue that has long awaited such support.

See this speech in context