Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At a time like this, one must wonder what is the point of this Chamber. Deputy Finian McGrath has tabled an extremely important motion before the House with the support of many Members in the Technical Group. As I look across the Chamber, I see the Government's overwhelming majority is represented by a single highly capable Member, namely, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. No senior Ministers or Government Deputies are present. I wonder what those in the Gallery think of the sight of a bunch of Deputies standing up and talking into the air on an issue as important as disability and the cuts to the disability sector. Each one of these empty seats costs the people of Ireland approximately €250,000 per annum and standing up here right now, it comes as no surprise to me that the citizens of Ireland have increasingly less faith in their elected representatives.

Nevertheless, the motion before Members is extremely important and I congratulate Deputy Finian McGrath on bringing it forward. His motion does three things, namely, it recognises the scale of support provided by the disability sector, highlights the variety of cuts that have been imposed on that sector and calls on the Government both to reverse one recent decision on the mobility grant and to honour its commitment to treat people with disability in this State with the respect and dignity that is their right and which they deserve. Deputy McGrath's motion points out that 13% of the population is coping with a disability, that one person in 25 is providing unpaid care to people with disabilities and shockingly, that in Ireland, one carer in 50 is under the age of 15. However, since 2008 the sector has experienced a 14% cut in funding. When one factors in inflation, this equates to a 20% cut in real purchasing power for the sector. In this context, many organisations have 85% of their budgets locked into pay and pensions and under the terms of the Croke Park agreement, not only can they not replace their staff but they must award pay rises. Consequently, service providers are being hit with huge cuts and must take them all from 15% of their budgets. The result, as every Member is aware, has been huge problems for both the service providers and more critically, obviously, for those whom they support.

The most recent cut has been to the mobility grant. I accept the Ombudsman's finding and that the Government must act. However, as Deputy Joan Collins pointed out, the figures are spurious. I examined them and at present the two grants, namely, the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant, cost approximately €10 million per year. For example, in 2011, the cost was €10 million. According to the Government, extending these schemes to include those who are over 65 could add a further €300 million. In other words, the cost would increase from €10 million to more than €310 million, which sounds pretty dodgy to me. However, the numbers nonetheless are large and there is very little money available. Consequently, I accept that any response must be taken seriously and must be done in a careful manner that does not incur an annual cost to the State of €300 million. However, it is unacceptable to cease the current grant, which costs less than €1 million per month, while trying to figure out what the new scheme should be. There is no reason the Government could not have simply continued it before introducing the new scheme. I do not doubt the commitment of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and have heard her speak with passion and expertise on the issue of disabilities in this Chamber many times. However, she is not a full Minister and when one looks at the cuts that have come and the way in which they have been imposed, one cannot but conclude that the disability sector is not receiving the priority it should from both the present Administration and its predecessor. The choices we make in crisis will determine our character as a nation. It is easy to give out money when there is lots of money around and when one is borrowing too much of it. That is easy but the choices we make now will determine our social values. At present, history will look back on this Dáil and its predecessor and will state the elected representatives of the people chose to take money from disabled children at the same time they paid tens of billions of euro to professional financial investors. The present Government can still change this and still has time to do so. That is the choice it faces and I hope the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, will do everything they can in this regard.

I will use the time remaining to me to make a special plea for St. Catherine's Association, Wicklow. It provides a phenomenal service to the people of Wicklow and recently was obliged to put 58 staff on notice, which will have extremely serious consequences. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, has been engaging in good faith with me and the other Wicklow Deputies on this issue and I have a request I wish to put on the record on behalf of that institution, namely, that the funding for the 58 staff be provided until the end of the school term. I appreciate that things must change and there have been governance issues. Moreover, I acknowledge this is not the fault of the HSE but taking out those 58 teachers mid-term will cause a great deal of distress and disruption to the pupils therein. Consequently, my request is that until the end of the school term, emergency funding be provided that allows the school to continue. This would minimise any disruption and would give the new board time to come up with a new plan.

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