Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State and wish her well in her new portfolio and all the best for the future. The disability sector is an important one and all Members of the Oireachtas, not just the Minister of State, have a role to play in this regard.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate on the national disability strategy. When talking about disability strategies and other disability issues, we should always listen to and involve as much as possible all people with a disability, particularly when trying to achieve solutions. All discussion should be founded on the rights of, and respect for, those with a disability. Let us drop the condescending talk and claptrap around this issue. One either believes in an inclusive society or one does not. If the Minister cuts or destroys disability services, he cannot look a person in the eye and say he supports inclusion. That needs to be said, and I say it as the parent of a daughter with a disability. We do not do waffle in our house; it is about respect and equality.

It is not all bad news. There are plenty of examples of good practice in disability services, to which I will return. However, I feel strongly that the Government needs to raise its game on the national disability strategy. We have some great services, with great people working in them. As a parent, I have experienced them and some are top-class, at times against the odds. We should not be afraid to say that in this debate. There are people in disability services who are doing an excellent job, very professionally and to an international standard. What the Government and we as Members of the Oireachtas need to do is to support them in a stronger way.

With regard to inclusiveness, I experienced recently an example of good practice when I was invited to a debate in the Central Remedial Clinic in Clontarf for the radio show "Saturday with Charlie Bird". I was expecting the usual panel of politicians and a few token representatives but, much to my surprise and delight when I arrived, all of the panel were people with disabilities; 90% of the audience were also people with disabilities or their family members. There were only two or three politicians in the room. When we are talking about policies and strategies, let us hear the people with disabilities themselves.

Even today we have heard that many parents are concerned about the cutting of domiciliary care allowance. That is not acceptable. We need to ensure people who are losing their payments are looked after. Also, those parents whose cases are being reviewed, particularly when the reviews last for longer than 12 months, lose their payments while waiting. This causes a lot of grief for families and leads to much unnecessary negativity. I urge the Minister of State to consider the issues raised and support parents and people with disabilities.

Something that has come up in the last couple of days which is related to this debate is autism. I do not know whether the Minister of State saw the article published recently by Dr. Tony Humphreys on this subject. It was absolutely disgraceful and very damaging for the many families containing adults or children with autism. I will quote one section from the article:

After all, the deepest need of every child is to be unconditionally loved and the absence of it results in children shutting down emotionally themselves because to continue to spontaneously reach out for love would be far too painful.

Children's wellbeing mostly depends on emotional security – a daily diet of nurture, love, affection, patience, warmth, tenderness, kindness and calm responses to their expressed welfare and emergency feelings. To say that these children have a genetic and/or neurobiological disorder called autism ... only adds further to their misery and condemns them to a relationship history where their every thought and action is interpreted as arising from their autism.

Let us nail the myth. Autism is a recognised disability and I hope the Minister will take that position strongly. One person who commented on the article said:

Printing unscientific and evidence-lacking articles is a very dangerous thing. Free speech aside, we all know what happened when Andrew Wakefield wrote about his supposed linkage of autism and the MMR vaccine. Years later with measles outbreaks on the rise, people are still refusing to vaccinate their kids.

I raise this issue because of the great offence this article has caused to many parents of children with autism. There was one reaction which summed up people's feelings very well. One mother, Mary, said:

As a mother of an autistic child I find this extremely offensive. I have 3 children one with autism 2 without. I by no means loved her any less than the other 2. I love all my children equally. The only people qualified enough to make such drastic remarks are those who live with autism in their homes everyday. If anything I give her twice the attention because she needs it. My other kids can occupy themselves but she can't because she needs constant care and attention. He should be struck off ... To all those parents out there who have read this drivel: take no notice, all autistic parents know the real truth [and] this article sure as hell isn't it.

I am representing the views of many parents of autistic parents and challenge Tony Humphreys. I often wonder whether people really understand what it is like to have a child with autism. Do they understand the childminding problems when they are young? Do they understand how hard it is for a parent to leave the child if he or she needs to get out of the house for an hour to go for a pint, or even if the telephone rings, because an external noise might trigger a violent reaction and the house might be damaged or destroyed when he or she returns? That is the reality for people who live with disabilities and should also be very much part of the debate.

With regard to the national disability strategy, Departments are required under the Disability Act 2005 to prepare sectoral plans showing that they will address key disability issues. After a period for consultation, the final sectoral plans must be brought to the Oireachtas. The six Departments referenced in the Act - I know the names have changed since - are the Departments of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Environment and Local Government, Health and Children, Social and Family Affairs and Transport.

These are the particular issues on which I would like to zone in. Earlier it was said there were many people in residential care settings that required inspection. I support my colleagues who have said we need an independent inspectorate to ensure the safety and rights of these children and adults are protected. I have major concerns in this regard. We have had the debate on child abuse, but when it comes to the other part of that debate, on people with intellectual disabilities in institutional care, sometimes there is a great silence. Much of the truth about child abuse among those children has not been revealed. I ask the Minister to be vigilant on that issue because it is something that might be below the radar.

"Mainstreaming" is a current buzzword and a key tenet of the Government's policy towards people with disabilities. The National Disability Authority considers that it is timely, in the context of the national disability strategy and the lack of progress in delivering on mainstreaming to date, that we examine this issue closely.

A number of my colleagues mentioned the mental capacity Bill which is being discussed at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. We will have hearings with groups such as Inclusion Ireland in the next couple of weeks. We have started to deal with thie Bill and that work will continue. Members of both Government and Opposition parties will listen closely to the excellent submissions on the agenda.

The pervious national disability strategy was endorsed in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016. The key elements of that strategy were as follows: the Disability Act 2005, the Citizens Information Act 2007, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and a multi-annual investment programme of €900 million. The Towards 2016 strategic document pulled together the vision, mission and strategic objectives of the national disability strategy. We have the vision and we have the people in the disability sector. We also have many competent people with disabilities who should be brought into the organisations and the decision making process. Some of them are fantastic people who have made a massive contribution to this country in the past number of years.

There is also the issue of employment for people with disabilities. The 3% target for employment of people with disabilities is provided for in Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005. This is common sense. When I was a councillor in Dublin City Council in 1999, before this was a buzz word, the council was way above that 3% target in hiring staff. There were hundreds of staff with disabilities working in Dublin City Council, when it had between 6,000 and 7,000 staff. The council moved in this way of its own accord. By the time I was elected to the Dáil in 2002, the council was at 4.7% or 4.8%. The point is that there are people with ideas and people in the public sector who will bring these people into their organisations. People might have a physical disability but they have other fantastic and amazing skills.

In fairness, too, in the private sector there are small businesses and shops, including Senator Feargal Quinn, who have done a great deal to include people with disabilities in their staff. My daughter has worked in shops, garages and hairdressing salons. They get a great buzz from working a couple of hours per week. It is very inclusive and is part of inclusion politics.

I wish the Minister of State well with her job, as it is a very important job. My only advice to her is that she should listen to the parents and the people with disabilities. I realise she must also listen to the politicians and the Minister for Finance, which will be a pain over the next four or five years. However, when she is implementing her policies and examining strategies and so forth, she should put the parents and the people with disabilities at the top of her political agenda.

See this speech in context