Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I support the provisions set out in amendments Nos. 38 and 40. I had intended in quite a number of amendments to promote the establishment of an independent disability support service as outlined in the document, Equal Citizens. The Ceann Comhairle has ruled all such amendments out of order. While this action may have been correct under Standing Orders as the amendments implied a charge on the Exchequer, I continue to believe that if the Minister of State had considered the proposal on Committee Stage or during drafting, he would have realised a support service would be more cost-effective and efficient and less bureaucratic than the approach in the legislation.

Ruled out of order were amendments Nos. 30, 33, 40, 60, 69, 70, 72, 86, 89, 94, 97, 107, 123, 126, 127, 141, 146, 148, 150 and 155 to 158, inclusive. The number of amendments demonstrates that those who support me on this matter — and I — put time, effort and thought into the promotion of an independent disability support service. It is not something we dreamed up. The service was a key recommendation of the DLCG and should have been a crucial subject of debate on the Bill's provisions. As I have been prohibited from moving my amendments, I indicate my support for the amendments tabled by colleagues on Part 2 of the Bill. I will support amendments Nos. 38 and 40 up to and including amendment No. 154.

We took a different approach by trying to gut the legislation wholesale and revise it to reflect our view that its provisions were irredeemable and that the rights-based model proposed by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and the DLCG in its document, Equal Citizens, should be implemented. I recognise, however, that the proposals of Opposition colleagues represent an improvement on the Government's fundamentally flawed formula as set out in the Bill.

I will continue to fight to raise the issues I have addressed in amendments. It is ridiculous that Standing Orders allowed the majority of my amendments to be ruled out of order on the grounds of a cost to the Exchequer. While everything we debate involves a cost to the Exchequer, the Opposition is precluded from discussing provisions that could prove more beneficial in the long run than those the Government proposed. We should change the relevant Standing Order to facilitate proper debates on legislation and allow us to put forward constructive, far-reaching amendments to improve this legislation in particular and other legislation in future.

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