Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

He can do that as well. While the Minister of State can make minimal changes and statements that there will be some movement, there is no movement in regard to this amendment. He also stated that six Departments will have to produce plans within a certain time and that other Departments will have to do so by the end of the year. It would have been much simpler if the Minister of State had imposed a statutory duty not only on the six Departments but on all the public bodies under section 75. It would have been similar to the requirement under the Official Languages Act. A statutory duty would have been placed on public bodies and on those in receipt of public funding.

Disability grants were mentioned. This Bill is dependent on resources and on officers from the Health Service Executive making assessments. When will those officers be trained? If everyone with a disability or, as the Minister of State puts it, everyone who is of the opinion that they have a disability, makes an application, assessments will not be done in each case by the end of the year because trained staff are not available. At present we do not have trained staff to deal with applications for disability grants or grants for alterations to houses. In County Clare, the wait for access to an occupational therapist is more than a year while in my area, it is more than 14 months. That is the current situation, yet the Minister of State said there will be no problem, everything will be grand and that we should trust him. I guarantee that unless the resources are provided and training is put in place immediately, we will end up with a long waiting list.

We are restricting the level of recourse to the courts and to the complaints procedure for people with disability because we must wait for the Minister for Finance to give the required funding rather than ensure the Minister must provide that funding as of right so that we do not end up with another waiting list. There are enough waiting lists in this State without creating a new one in respect of assessments.

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