Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

After extending season's greetings and hoping the Tánaiste will have an enjoyable, restful and peaceful Christmas, which I am sure he needs, like all of us, I wish to raise a very serious issue relating to people with disabilities. Looking back on 2012, it is fair to say we have witnessed a significant attack on services for people with disabilities, with cuts across the board. There has been much fear and anxiety developing among parents and families of people with special needs and disabilities. It has been a sustained attack, leading to fear and frustration.

For example, 700 school leavers have no guarantees of getting a place for essential services and the issue is still not satisfactorily resolved. There have been cuts to special needs assistants across the country, with a 15% cut to resource teaching hours and a very ruthless review of the domiciliary care allowance, with up to 63% of all applications rejected in the first six months of 2012 and 50% of children with autism refused a domiciliary care allowance. Last year the Government was forced into a review of cuts it had announced to disability payments. We also witnessed the debacle of the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, in August, when he cut €10 million from personal assistants and people had to camp overnight to get the cut reversed.

There was a further slash and burn cut of €1 million in home help hours, which again affected people with disabilities. That was followed in this budget by a callous 20% cut in the respite care grant. On this side of the House we have noticed a terrible tightening of the screw with medical cards, particularly for children with special needs and children with life-challenging conditions. Such people are now being refused medical cards. When one considers the entire year, the picture is one of targeting people with disabilities, with a removal of any sense of guarantee or comfort.

We acknowledge the difficulty of the finances for 2013. There should be, however, a resolve to protect people with special needs and disabilities in our society. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, at the time of the announcement of the Estimates was not in a position to guarantee that there would not be further cutbacks in 2013 for the disability sector. The HSE service plan is due to be published. Will the Tánaiste guarantee there will not be cuts to people with disabilities and special needs? In particular, will he guarantee there will be places in services for those who leave second level schooling in 2013?

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