Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Let us be clear and practical, if the Labour Party were in Government the funding might not be sufficient either because what good Government is about is providing resources as far as is possible from the point of view of the Exchequer and good governance. We are all agreed that a significant amount of resources is needed for the disability sector. There is no argument about that. Whatever Government is in power in the next five to six years it will have to invest significant resources year after year. That has to be based on good governance. This Bill provides for good governance. I defy any Deputy to argue in the Dáil against the requirements of good governance.

Deputy Finian McGrath has been eloquent in this debate. I agree with the point of view that there are large gaps in services and significant resources must be provided. That is the intention of the Government, as outlined by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, in the budget.

The fourth point of the DLCG states that the provisions regarding sectoral plans must take account of the wider needs of people with disabilities and that each Department with relevant services must provide a sectoral plan. There are six sectoral plans for the six large spending Departments which have to bring in very significant changes over the next ten years. The other Departments are already provided for in the Bill. They have to bring in most of the requirements as outlined in the Bill before 31 December 2005. We have covered the fourth requirement of the DLCG.

We have also covered No. 5. Yesterday at a meeting with the Taoiseach and the DLCG which was attended by my officials and me, we agreed to further concessions relating to No. 5. The Taoiseach indicated yesterday that he was agreeable to amending Cabinet procedure in order to require that all policies and legislation going before Government would take into account the impact on people with disabilities. In addition, I will bring forward an amendment whereby each Department must report progress on its sectoral plans at regular intervals which we will discuss later when we reach that point. I assure the House that——

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