Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

People with disabilities face additional challenges in their lives. Those challenges extend to their families and loved ones. We are contemplating a range of disabilities which include the physical, mental, intellectual, environmental, social and medical. Disability is an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. I agree with Deputy Harris that sometimes when we use terms, they become labels and we then lose sight of the people behind them. We must stress that it is the person at whom we are looking rather than his or her disability. In our civilised, humane society we can rise to meet the challenges to which I refer in order that no one with a disability will be precluded from taking a full and active role in that society. I accept that we must strike a balance in the context of the reality that exists and adopt a common-sense approach.

Reference was made to those environmental barriers which hinder full and effective participation in society. In fairness, great efforts have been made to make transport and venues such as cinemas, theatres and heritage sites more accessible to those with disabilities. The Dáil has also been reasonably proactive in the context of providing access. Former Deputy Seán Connick had a great deal to do with making the House much more disability friendly.

The legislation in this area, namely, the Disability Act 2005, the Citizens Information Act 2007, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and the Towards 2016 strategy try to bring together aspects of the national disability strategy. I accept that there are sectoral plans in this regard which were reviewed in December 2009 but there is not enough publicity or public awareness in respect of this entire area. It appears that the most recent meeting of the stakeholder monitoring group - about which I have heard a great deal - occurred on 18 October 2010. While there has been a change of Government, the issue has not changed. One is obliged to wonder, therefore, how long it takes to deal with matters of this nature. The Minister of State established a new implementation group to deal with the national disability strategy. I welcome the additions to the membership of that group, particularly because individuals sometimes get lost within the overall entity that is the service provider. We must remember that implementation can be extremely slow and that matters can be delayed by bureaucracy.

The Minister of State has included representation from local authorities on the implementation group to which I refer. There is a real need to speed up the process relating to people who acquire disabilities after they acquire local authority housing. I refer, for example, to those who suffer strokes, have accidents or, as is the case with some individuals in my constituency, are obliged to have limbs amputated. These people live in local authority housing, their bathroom facilities might be located on the second or third floor and their stairways may be too narrow to accommodate chair lifts. I know individuals in situations such as that which I have just outlined who have been left waiting for far too long for assistance. As already stated, the process must be speeded up and to a considerable degree.

I wish to place on record the phenomenal work being done by those at St. Michael's House in providing services to people with intellectual disabilities. Despite the moratorium on recruitment, the budget cuts and the reduction in staff numbers - all of which have had a considerable impact - those at St. Michael's House have continued to expand and develop the services provided there. The staff to whom I refer are coping with an increase in the number of people who use their day services and who receive residential services. Enormous credit is due to the staff at this facility in respect of the way in which they continue to deliver high-quality services. The most significant challenge which the staff must face up to relates to the fact that St. Michael's has the largest waiting list for residential care in the country. The statistic they provided with regard to the number of parents who have sons and daughters with intellectual disabilities who live at home is frightening. Some 240 of the parents in question are over 70 years of age. The staff at St. Michael's recognise that more than half of these 240 individuals are encountering serious difficulties. Those who run St. Michael's have been phenomenal with regard to the way in which they have managed the cuts to date and in the context of how they continue to respond to the increased demand. The area of mental health is referred to as the Cinderella of the health service. Within that, however, there is another Cinderella which is the area of intellectual disability.

There are three specific matters to which I wish to refer. The first of these relates to the thalidomide survivors. These are people who, through no fault of their own, were left with disabilities. Discussions have taken place with successive Governments in respect of this matter. It is time to stop talking and to give serious consideration to what these people are seeking and what they require in order that their needs will be met in an appropriate fashion.

The second matter relates to a forgotten category of people, namely, post-polio survivors, some of whom I have met. Great strides were made in this country in the context of the elimination of polio. However, the members of the group to which I refer are all much older individuals. There is limited funding available for the Post Polio Support Group Ireland, which is doing great work.

The third matter relates to St. Joseph's School for the Visually Impaired, which is not located in my constituency but with which I am familiar. Some of the visually impaired children who attend this school have multiple disabilities. The school already has the necessary facilities and staff available to it. All that it requires is a minuscule amount of funding to develop a centre of excellence for young people with multiple disabilities.

We are aware that there is a link between disability and inequality and that the former disproportionately affects poorer people. The risk of inequality increases significantly when disability occurs in Third World countries.

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