Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason we tabled this motion is because there are great difficulties in the area of intellectual and physical disability. There are major concerns among service providers and users of those services. There is no point in us pretending there have not been cuts to the area of services for people with disabilities, both physical and intellectual. There clearly have been cuts in terms of provision of care and services. We have had repeated statements from the Ministers concerned that front-line services will be protected, but the Minister acknowledged in the context of the budgetary statements and announcements last year and the health service delivery plan that there would be cuts to front-line services in intellectual and physical disabilities.

I attended a meeting on Saturday in Our Lady of Good Counsel national school in Ballincollig. It is very concerned because of the reconfiguration being proposed by the Government in terms of mapping services and ensuring the services and supports are in place such that everybody has access to the service. Quite clearly, if the Government continues as it is, there will be very few services to share among anybody. There is considerable despondency, anger and frustration. Exceptional efforts have been made over recent years to provide services for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. It has been acknowledged that we have made some ground,, but the idea that because we are now in difficult financial straits, we would row back on any of the advances we have made for the most vulnerable in our communities and society is very distasteful.

We are talking about the service providers being asked to find further efficiencies. Everybody accepts that efficiencies should be to the fore in ensuring there is a quality service and that it is delivered efficiently. However, they are being asked to pay the increments out of the savings. There has been no additional allocation from the HSE to the service providers to fund the increments awarded in the context of Croke Park. When we talk about a 3% or 5% cut in the provision of services in real terms, we are talking about multiples of that simply because they do not have the ability to increase the efficiencies and at the same time fund their commitments in the context of Croke Park. If we are to be serious and fair on the issue of providing services to people with physical and intellectual disabilities, the very least we should do is honour in terms of funding an increase in allocations this year to cover the increments awarded under Croke Park. Otherwise, we will have a continual diminishing of services required by many people. We are talking about up to 18% of people who have a disability of one kind or another. Many of these people can get on and work their way through life but there are a huge number of people who are completely dependent on their families and the State for support. Unfortunately, the State is reneging on its clear obligation to fund the services and provide the supports for the many people who need them.

We were at the meeting to which I referred and one thing we heard continually from parents of children with physical and intellectual disabilities was that they were tired and burnt out. They were fighting the system and consistently up against it. Every time they thought they were taking a step forward, the State forced them to take two steps back. That clearly is something that is unacceptable in modern times.

I want the Minister of State to put a strong emphasis on services for people with physical and intellectual disabilities, provide a clear pathway of funding and ensure service providers do not incur the cost of the increments awarded to employees under Croke Park and upheld by the Labour Court and Labour Relations Commission by providing additional funding to cover those increments. Let us introduce efficiencies in the system and make sure we map the resources and apply them in a way that is fair to everybody - those in the specialist streams and those in the mainstream. If one continually divides these scarce resources, one will reach a point where they benefit nobody because they will not receive the specialist training in terms of occupational, physical and speech therapy, for example. Clearly, that is what is happening.

Our motion is very simple and straightforward. It asks that the Government lives up to its commitments as outlined in the programme for Government - nothing more, nothing less. It is simply what it said it would do in the programme for Government.

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