Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Absolutely. That Government should back-up that provision and cut out the nonsense about people not knowing their entitlements. They know their entitlements. However, when they seek them, they meet so many blockades, hurdles, obstacles and obstructions they never receive them. They become exhausted trying to pursue their entitlements and rights.

I will raise a related matter on the Adjournment Debate today and I do not want to undermine it now. It is a classic case of a young person with a severe disability who, despite countless reminders and inquiries on entitlement to payment, waited ten years for that payment to be granted. When it was granted it was obvious arrears were due. When the great and giving Department reconsidered the situation it was decided to remove the payment completely. It felt it would have to cough up after being wrong in the first place. I will speak more on that later.

This House has seen countless meetings, debates and discussions on people with disabilities. We put down countless Dáil questions to the Minister for Education and Science on children, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs on adults and the Minister for Health and Children on back-up services provided by that Department. We always get the same bland replies containing the same old tripe we were told ten or 15 years ago. The world has moved on since then. It is important to provide support, advocacy and back-up services and to enable people to identify precisely what they should get. It is a different kettle of fish to give it to them and that is what we should now consider.

We hear from various people on the other side of the House about the large amount of resources now available to Government and we know it full well. If the Government coffers overflow to that extent, instead of supplying the visuals, why not supply the service? Why not supply occupational therapy or speech and language therapy?

I examined a series of files a few minutes ago. Speech and language therapy does not exist in my constituency. It is finished. What will an advocacy service provide for people seeking such therapy? Will it tell them we will have the service? When will it be? One can be sure it will be after the general election — about three years after it.

It annoys me intensely to see a Bill such as this, well-meaning though it might be. Unfortunately it avoids the real issue, which is to what degree it is intended to enhance the services which should be available to people with disabilities. To what extent will carer services be extended? To what extent will wheelchair access be provided to all buildings, public and private, throughout the country? To what extent is it intended to enhance quality of life and enable and encourage people with disabilities to become involved in the great national economy we all talk about? To what extent is any of that proposed under this Bill? Are we merely involved in optics once again?

A similar Bill came through the House two years ago. We had the same old carry-on and discussed the same nonsense. What happened in the meantime? I do not address my remarks to the Minister of State sitting across from me. I know him to be a decent and sincere man. I know in his heart he agrees with me. We all know we have been here and done that. The longer we stay and listen to it, the more cynical we are about the contents of this Bill.

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