Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Billy Kelleher for tabling the motion and support his call for the Government to provide funding and services necessary to honour its commitment to people with disabilities. As Deputy Kelleher said last night, it is about holding the line and the line is in the programme for Government. It is very important.

We propose that disability services be ring-fenced from any cut. It is a good starting point. As a Deputy from the west of Ireland, I met with organisations such as the Brothers of Charity, Western Care Mayo, which looks after Mayo particularly, and Ability West. The Brothers of Charity have been to the fore in helping families affected by the cuts to disability services. There is great benefit to people in the care of the Brothers of Charity. I received a letter from a mother who talked about her son, who is making a constructive contribution to society and will only improve with continued support. She praises what the Brothers of Charity are doing but she also makes the point that, if there is a withdrawal of funding, it could result in her son regressing. In the past, this has led to the intervention of the Garda Síochána, the courts and other State agencies because there is no focus or outlet for him and others in this situation. That mother and many who avail of the services of the Brothers of Charity are concerned at the proposed reduction in budgets.

Ability West is an organisation that has provided services for 50 years to children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the west. It was previously known as the Galway County Association for Mentally Handicapped Children. It told me that this year there was a cutback of €836,454 in its budget. It tried to do everything possible to minimise costs and maximise efficiencies but the CEO of the organisation said in a letter to parents that the organisation has now reached the point where the scope for savings from efficiencies that would not have an impact on services no longer exists.

Other Deputies referred to the question of people leaving school. Ability West responded to 33 people leaving school this year. There were only 14 rehabilitative training places and the remaining 19 people had to be accommodated without any new additional funding being provided to the organisation. In 2012, Ability West responded to several emergencies. The organisation feels another cut in the 2013 budget would be a cut too far and would result in a reduction in essential services, such as respite, residential support, day services and transport.

We are concerned at cutbacks to the budgets for personal assistants and special needs provision. Children have lost special needs assistants and there is a major issue in respect of students leaving school. I understand 700 people came out of school last year. There is great concern about their future. The same issue exists in terms of domiciliary care allowance, where 63% of applications were refused in the first half of the year. Up to half of the applications for children with autism were refused. Autism, in particular, has been highlighted by many parents, one of whom wrote to me about her son with autism and an intellectual disability. In that case, the Brothers of Charity was a one-stop shop for the family. I hope the Brothers of Charity and other organisations are not forgotten by the Government. People are asking why the Government is taking funding from the Brothers of Charity and such organisations when it should be helping these organisations with their financial situation.

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