Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Independent)

I also welcome an opportunity to speak on this Bill. I welcome the Bill and commend the Minister for bringing it into the House. It is badly needed. We, as a society, really need to focus on the requirements of people with disabilities and we have done this, in particular, over the past number of years.

We have moved people with disabilities centre stage. This has been done largely because of the significant work of disabled people themselves. They have made successful representations to us all in this House over the years and helped us recognise the need to give them equality and equal access to services that the rest of us enjoy.

In recent years a considerable improvement has come about for people with a disability, through the Disability Act 2005 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004, and also with this Bill.

It is definitely a policy objective of everybody of this House that there would be equal access to services for people with disabilities. We want to improve the services to people with disabilities right across the board. Comhairle, over the past number of years, has provided customer-friendly high quality independent information and advice throughout this country on social services to all members of the public. I have experience of this, even in my home town of Castlebar where an excellent service is provided through the citizens information service across a range of areas such as health, social welfare, education, family support, housing, taxation, citizenship issues, employment and training, and information for asylum seekers and immigrants. They also provide support for information providers, both voluntary and statutory.

This Bill is a new welcome development. While there are many voluntary organisations that have provided advocacy services for people with disabilities, it is important this would be provided through a State-funded service.

I welcome the development that the Minister will be providing a personal advocate for certain people with disabilities who meet the qualifying criteria. The qualifying criteria is a matter which obviously needs to be explored. A person will be assessed on the basis of need, the benefit he or she will derive from the service and the risk to his or her health or well-being if this service were not to be provided.

This Bill is an overhaul of the current service. It is a modernisation of the service in light of the changing society. It is important to recognise the significant number of immigrants, both from the new EU member states and from countries outside the EU, who are living in Ireland. The change of name, under section 1, is a welcome development. I note, even through the operation of the service in my home town, that many people, particularly from outside of the State, know exactly where to go when they want to get independent information. In that regard, the change of name is helpful in making accessible and readily identifiable to everybody where State-funded information services can be obtained.

This service is essential because it offers opportunities to all. It breaks down barriers that exist currently for people with disabilities and it helps the most vulnerable people in society to improve their lives. That must be acted on immediately. A number of Members stated the Minister should take it slowly, wait a little longer and engage in more consultation. The resources allocated to a service such as this will always be an issue but it is important to proceed with it immediately to provide equal access, which is badly needed by many people.

The Comhairle website is an excellent facility. Previous speakers have stated everybody has not embraced the electronic age. Significant numbers of young people are more proficient with technology than older people in society and many of them access the service. What is the breakdown of the age profile of people accessing the service throughout the State? Deputy Carey stated 200,000 queries were received in 2000. How many use the service? How many hits has the website received? I have used it many times in my role as a public representative and it is an important facility, which provides excellent information.

Sections 1 and 2 cover definitions of the social services, which include health, social welfare, education, family support, housing, taxation and so on. Section 3 provides for a name change from Comhairle to the citizens information board, which is welcome. The notion of a personal advocate for a disabled person to enable him or her to access all services and who can speak out on his or her behalf is also welcome. The Bill aims to improve the lot of people with disabilities by providing this service to qualifying people.

Under section 4 the Minister sets out the functions of the board to support the provision of advocacy services and the introduction of a personal advocacy service for people with disabilities who meet the criteria of qualifying persons. It also provides that the board should support and develop greater accessibility and public awareness of social services. However, I do not like the provision, which also came in to play in the Disability Bill 2004, that the board must have regard to the financial resources available. The Minister has provided €2 million this year and an additional €250,000 will be provided to get the service up and running when the Bill is passed. What is the Minister's estimate of the take-up of the personal advocacy service? What is best practice in this regard in other countries? Such information would give us an indication as to whether the service being provided will be adequate.

The qualifying criteria address people who are unable, without the assistance or support of a personal advocate, to access the service and where there are reasonable grounds for believing there is a risk to that person's health, welfare or safety if he or she is not provided with the service. Unfortunately, the legislation provides that people will be prioritised on the basis of greatest need. If it is determined that a person faces a risk to his or her health or welfare and he or she is, therefore, a qualifying person, and the board cannot provide the service he or she requires because of finite resources, it leaves us in a difficult situation. Such people will be identified as being in need but nothing will be done for them. The issue of resources is critical to the legislation. Unless it is adequately resourced, the Minister has no business pretending to offer a service. There is nothing worse than pretending to offer a service to people and, at the end of the day, not having the finance in place to provide it.

For example, last year, home care packages were announced as one of the solutions to the accident and emergency department problem. County Mayo has a population of 110,000 and five people received such a package. How can a service be offered to everybody when only five people will receive it? Failure to resource the service would be a significant backward step, in light of everything that has been done for people with disabilities. We are moving forward and putting them centre stage by providing a badly needed service but the question is whether sufficient money will be in place to provide it.

Reference was made to the current requirement that all applications for a personal advocate must be made in writing but section 7B states, "may apply in writing or such other form as may be specified by the Minister to the Director". What are the other forms of application? People with certain disabilities may not be able to make an application in writing. However, I am sure the Minister, given that people with disabilities are centre stage, has foreseen that scenario and he has another recommendation in place to get around that.

I also welcome section 5, which gives rights to a personal advocate to enter any place that provides day care, residential care or training for the qualifying person to represent his or her interests. The Minister has provided for a penalty in section 7D of a summary conviction or a fine not exceeding €2,000 where a person obstructs or hinders a personal advocate in the performance of his or her duties. That is welcome because such clout is needed for a personal advocate to be successful and to truly benefit the disabled person. A significant penalty is needed if advocates are obstructed in their work.

Section 5 contains the meat of the legislation. The issue of qualifications has been raised by many Members. A number of people engaged by the citizens information service work in a voluntary capacity beside many trained professionals. The Bill provides that people other than staff of the information service can operate as personal advocates and, therefore, the issue of qualifications and skills is critical. What training will be offered to aspiring personal advocates? What qualifications will be necessary to take up that line of work? Personal advocates will play a significant role in the lives of people with disabilities and great responsibility will be placed on them, as the Bill provides that they can access information on behalf of the person with a disability, enter any place in which he or she is receiving day care and attend meetings and consultations on his or her behalf. It is clear that significant qualifications and appropriate listening and negotiating skills and so on will be required. What is best practice in this regard in other states? What qualifications are required to take up such a role in other countries?

Generally, I welcome the legislation, which is urgently needed and should not be delayed. However, the issue of resources is key to making it a success. Everybody knows the Minister does not have an open chequebook and he must make decisions on and attach priorities to how money is spent. Over the years, people with disabilities have been neglected and it is critical that does not happen under this legislation.

Deputy Fleming referred to an issue regarding the adult dependant allowance, which I have raised repeatedly for a considerable time. I welcome the changes made in this regard by the Minister on 29 September. While the allowance has been increased, the Minister did not increase it to 100% of the spouse's payment, which is a commitment in the programme for Government. However, I read an interview with the Minister in The Irish Times, in which he stated he is committed to making the payment directly to all adult dependants. He has done this for pensions but not for social welfare payments. Approximately 95% of adult dependants are women. Every woman in the State is entitled to an income of her own and she is entitled to have it paid directly to her. The adult dependant is entitled to 100% of what her spouse is paid. Hopefully, the Minister will address this in the forthcoming budget.

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