Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I wish to respond initially to what the Minister had to say about the 3,000 extra claimants' cases since 2009. We acknowledge that but we dispute the review initiated last year by the Department on her instructions. The statistics emanating from that review do not lie. The real stories emanating from that review form the basis of tonight's motion. The Minister spoke about a review of the whole DCA structure, which is supposed to pacify us and those whom we represent. I have no doubt that Members on the Government benches have also been inundated by representations from families who have been affected by this review. I hope the Government side will take cognisance of those statistics and what constituents are saying throughout the country.

A fortnight ago, many families from across the country protested both here in Dublin and in Cork city against what we would term one of the most underhand and vicious cuts implemented by the Government. They were protesting on behalf of the most vulnerable children in society, many of whom are unable to speak for themselves. The covert cutbacks to a payment that these children are utterly reliant upon exposes the cold strategy of the Government to mask its own failures with a devastating series of below-the-radar cuts.

I welcome the Technical Group's motion as an opportunity for us to raise the plight of the families who gathered here two weeks ago, many of whom are in the Gallery this evening. Their profound difficulties with the escalating series of cuts, straining their already stretched resources and undermining their ability to care for severely disabled children, is the human side of insidious cutbacks. For parents of children with special needs, and severely autistic children, the DCA is used for vital services such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapy and other special needs therapies.

These types of key treatments are absolutely essential if these children are to be in a position to get the most out of their lives. At €309.50 per month, the payment represents the difference between making ends meet and things falling apart for families trying to provide a good upbringing for their vulnerable children. Given the severe financial pressure that these families are now under, this motion is a timely chance for the Government to reflect on its policy. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party I am calling on the Government to completely reverse its policy on the domiciliary care allowance review process. I ask the Minister to note that we are here to discuss the review process. Deputy Micheál Martin recently pressed the Taoiseach on this issue at Leaders' questions. He outlined the grim nature of the cuts that have been insidiously introduced. Almost 50% of children with autism and special needs have had their payments taken from them. He cited a letter sent by the Department to the parents of one autistic child with serious challenges. The quotation from that letter is indicative of many similar letters sent to such parents, carers and guardians. It stated: "The needs of your child are no different than that of any six year old."

The increasingly draconian restrictions on the domiciliary care allowance are further compounded by hits to the family income supplement and carer's allowance. Families who face major challenges in raising their special needs children must now face further hurdles put in their way by the Government. The DCA is now paid to 26,000 children across 24,000 families, with spending on the scheme and the respite care grant, which is automatically paid to all recipients, reaching €145 million in 2011. This money is an integral part of the budget of the families of those 26,000 children who need this payment.

The Department of Social Protection took over responsibility for the scheme from the Health Service Executive in April 2009. Under this Government, and especially since last year, I make no apologies for saying that it has ramped up efforts to reduce payments under the DCA. The Government review announced over a year ago has prompted a drastic cutback in the DCA. Eligibility for the DCA is not based primarily on the medical or psychological condition, but on the resulting lack of function of body or mind necessitating the degree of extra care and attention required that parents provide. Each application is assessed on an individual basis, but the Government is utilising that very process to reduce the number of recipients and lower spending. For example, this January, following a review of their claims, 57 claimants were notified that they no longer qualified for the payment. A savings figure of €326,239 relating to these 57 DCA claims and associated respite care grants has been recorded. This figure will further increase when the savings figure relating to any associated carers allowance is finalised. It is this money that these families need to pay for the therapies and services that are integral to ensuring these children have the opportunity to get the most out of their lives.

The Government reviewed 402 cases last year and cut the domiciliary care allowance for almost half the children involved. The families of 193 of these children were suddenly told that they will no longer receive the payment. Most of these are children with autism over the age of four. The Minister said that Opposition speakers were only representative of children with autism. We are not, but the figures do not lie. These statistics emanate from last year's reviews. These are children with profound learning and intellectual challenges. The DCA was used by their families as a payment to fund vital services. The process did not include any face-to-face assessment of the children affected, so officials had no first-hand knowledge of the care they required. The review also ignored medical evidence of the children's conditions, and the evidence from parents about the level of care and attention the children need. People are justifiably wondering how the decisions on cuts were made.

The difficulties do not stop at the subtle elimination of the DCA for hundreds of families. Appealing the decision takes weeks, and many more weeks than the period suggested by the Government spokesperson earlier in this debate. According to information from the Department, based on figures for the first quarter of 2012, the average waiting time for appeals dealt with by summary decisions was 22.4 weeks, and 40.9 weeks for those that required an oral hearing. Families unfairly hit by an inadequate review process are left for months with no recourse and grave uncertainty about their financial future. In short, the reviews put in place by the Government lack transparency, appear to have taken no face to face assessment of the child in question and have all the appearances of the worst aspects of bureaucracy. Most pointedly, they have hit vulnerable, autistic children the hardest. I emphasise that the statistics that emanate from those reviews point to those facts. A review process that leaves hundreds of vulnerable families who use a payment to provide a better quality of life for their children bereft of support is a flawed review system. The Government must change this compromised review service - not carry out a review that will take another eight months and that will be similar to other reviews called for by this Minister for reviews in the Department of Social Protection.

The steady reduction in the domiciliary care allowance reflects a broader approach by the Government towards covert cuts. It has made hay out of defending headline efforts such as not reducing social welfare rates but in truth the axe has fallen hard on those least able to bear it. The Government policy is to bring cuts in through the back door on the parts of society least able to shout about it, least able to have the massive unions behind them or to have the sort of lobby groups that are needed in order to grab the Government's attention. Behind a slick spin operation the Government has systematically introduced a raft of cutbacks that place a hefty burden upon the shoulders of those struggling to make ends meet and that make a complete mockery of claims that it defends the most vulnerable in society.

In areas such as fuel allowance, family income supplement, community employment schemes, jobseeker's benefit, child benefit and farm assist the Government has slashed with nothing but newspaper headlines in mind rather than the actual impact the cuts will have on the most vulnerable sections of our society. Only a strong public backlash against the callous cuts to the disability allowance forced it to backtrack earlier this year following the budget. Further public dismay at the inevitable impact of community employment schemes cuts prompted another pause by the Minister which is quickly becoming her trademark, as I said earlier in regard to the reviews of several of the entitlements within her remit.

In reality while the slow, covert cuts to domiciliary care allowance have taken time to work their way through the system they are having a devastating impact upon hard pressed families. In a similar vein, carer's allowance is now calculated as income for the purposes of the family income supplement. This will have a major impact on hundreds of families across the country who rely on family income supplement to make ends meet and they will find themselves now ineligible. The devastating impact of these measures across various exposed sections of Irish society show up the fiction of the Government's social protection policy. Last month's calculated effort to deflect attention away from a cut to the one parent family allowance is part of this policy of spin. The Government strategy is to appear to be avoiding cuts while in fact bringing them in covertly. The recent Social Welfare and Pensions Bill is a testament to that strategy but its impact upon ordinary families and its potential in condemning a generation of one parent families to the poverty trap will be felt for many years to come. The insidious nature of the cuts, shrouded by Government spin belies the devastating impact they will have. The domiciliary carers allowance cuts are a strong example of that.

We must highlight that this Government cannot hide from the facts. The Government has abandoned the progressive budgetary strategy developed over the past few years and pursued a regressive policy. The ESRI has studied in detail the impact of the budgets over these past most difficult, financially challenging years. It found that budget 2012 imposed greater percentage losses on those with low incomes. Callan, Keane, Savage and Walshe, as detailed in the ESRI special articles, concluded that budget 2012 involved greater proportionate losses for those on low incomes, reductions of about 2% to 2.5% for those with the lowest incomes, as against losses of approximately 0.75% for those on the highest incomes.

The regressive policy by the Government is a stark contrast, believe or not, to the budgetary policy pursued under Fianna Fáil. The paper I mentioned found that since October 2008 losses imposed by taxand welfare policies have been greatest for those on highest incomes, with a lesser impact on middle income groups and the least impact on those with low incomes, as compared to budget 2012. It found the same pattern prevailed in public sector pay cuts, with the higher paid bearing the brunt.

The Government has failed miserably to emulate this tough but fair approach. Instead it has relied upon spin to mask its covert, insidious cuts that have had a regressive impact upon Irish society placing the burden of fiscal adjustment upon those least able to bear it. Those families affected by the underhand cuts to the domiciliary care allowance know all too well what is a regressive policy.

I would like to take this opportunity to once more call upon the Government to change the policy in regard to the review the Minister initiated last year. The impact upon ordinary families who are trying to make the most of life for their children is too deep. The review process is too flawed and utterly impersonal. The effect on vulnerable children is and will be too devastating. Tonight's motion is a chance for the Minister to come out from behind the wall of spin, acknowledge a mistake and change course. We acknowledge and do not dispute the fact that more cases have come on stream since responsibility for this measure moved to the Minister's Department in 2009. We acknowledge that there have been 3,000 new cases and we welcome that-----

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