Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I strongly support amendment No. 73, whereby the liaison officer would be independent in the performance of his or her functions. It is a very important and strong amendment.

On the broader question, families with members with disabilities are concerned that the resource issue arises constantly. The Minister always puts forward the Government viewpoint and especially that of the Department of Finance. However, this is a Disability Bill, and I would love to remove the fingerprints of the Minister for Finance from this legislation, allowing us to focus on people with disabilities and their rights to services. I strongly support Deputy Cowley regarding the points put forward. The funding of services is always an issue, and there always seems to be a problem. It is like those 273 young children in Waterford waiting for speech and language services. I am sure that the local whinge is that they do not have the resources, but I do not find that acceptable. That is my big problem with the resource issue. In my area, I do not find it acceptable that there are 250 in the St. Michael's House area on very serious priority waiting lists.

Those are the issues, but there never seems to be any kind of whinge or moan when money is wasted. Deputy Cowley mentioned the €60 million spent on electronic voting, but there are many other projects. I live where the new Dublin Port tunnel is about to be constructed, and they have already gone €220 million over the projected costs. A great deal of money is being wasted. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell — Rambo himself — thinks that he is going to tackle all the gangland murders in Dublin. He is out in New York while the gangland killings are continuing. He bought a farm in north County Dublin worth about €3 million or €4 million for €30 million. I would have loved to see that extra €26 million going on services for all the people on the north side of Dublin on speech and language, residential or respite waiting lists, which could be wiped out tomorrow morning.

The resource and financial issue should be tackled head on, and we should make no apologies for supporting such a rights-based approach. We are talking about 8% of the population. When families organise rallies for next Thursday, they are not acting lightly. Yesterday I received a telephone call from Galway. The Minister of State probably knows Ronnie Hanlon, who is organising a group from Galway which is coming up for the rally on Thursday on the Bill's conclusion. Families have genuine concerns, and I know from talking to a great many back bench Deputies that many share our views but are silent because they have been put under pressure by the Whip. If they were in Opposition, they would strongly support the points that we are making regarding this legislation. We have every democratic right to put that forward, despite those who reject our entitlement to challenge the resource and funding issue. Money is always a problem regarding people with disabilities and the poor or excluded. However, that is never the case with others in society. Denis O'Brien and those with large fortunes get away scot free. Had we a fair taxation system, they would have paid at least €50 million, which would be no big deal if they make €200 million. Imagine what services could be provided with that money.

On amendment No. 73, it is important that those issues be raised. My bottom line is that I would like the liaison officer to be independent in the performance of his or her duty. The Minister of State will gather that there are several Independent Deputies in the House who are inclined to consider things objectively. For that reason, I say that a liaison officer should also be independent.

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