Dáil debates

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Funding of Disability Services: Motion [Private Members]

 

9:10 pm

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Independent speaker at the Constitutional Convention last Saturday one of the points I made was that when the eight topics have been dealt with that there is a need to examine human rights. I specifically mentioned people with disabilities, both mental and physical. I also made a point about the rights of prisoners because their mental health has been very much neglected.

This has not been a good year for people with disabilities, both mental and physical, because added to the obvious difficulties of living with a disability and the stress and strain of coping with that both for the person affected and their loved ones, there are also the additional stresses and strains caused by insensitive and unethical measures for personal assistant hours and home help hours. Those measures are also uneconomic because various organisations have made calculations on the cost of keeping someone in hospital or a nursing home. The cost of providing supports for people with disabilities in order that they can be cared for at home, in so far as that is practicable, is minimal in comparison.

There are varying degrees of disability, both physical and mental, and some require 24-hour care, but the general agreement is for community care in so far as that is possible. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, agrees with that. Allied to that is the absolute necessity of respite for the family members doing the caring. People with significant disabilities need more services in order to live independently. The philosophy of independent living is that every person is important and has the right to live a fulfilling life. The role of the personal assistant is vital to that.

Cutting personal assistant and home help hours will be much more costly in the long run, in addition to the awful effect on the person with a disability whose quality of life is being affected.

In terms of mental health, we are aware of the disproportion between the number of people with mental health issues and the financial allocation to services in this area.

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