Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I find it hard to believe that we are arguing for this. Perhaps I am naïve, but I thought this was a no-brainer and that the Government would stand up in the House on Tuesday and announce it had made funding available for bilateral cochlear implants. Alas, that was not the case. I am proud to stand in solidarity with these kids and their families and friends. Our party is committed to ensuring that the Government makes funding available as soon as possible.

A year ago, when Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and I were at the Disability Federation of Ireland pre-budget event, I called for a threshold of decency on disability supports. That is a promise from members of every political party and none and a political consensus that they will not cut supports for disability. Unfortunately, we have not signed up to the threshold of decency idea. In a real republic all citizens are equal, but not here. These profoundly deaf children are not equal, despite the fact that we can change this relatively easily. Last year, we were struck by the bravery of citizens with profound disabilities in protesting outside Leinster House at the cuts made by the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly. The courage and dignity of those who braved the elements to make their stand shone a light on the reality for them, their carers and their families. Despite the promises of both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in the final pre-election leaders' debate last year, the Government has proceeded to enforce cut after cut on those with disabilities in this State, their families and their carers. Their broken promises on disability are the cruellest of all.

In Ireland, profoundly deaf children receive only one cochlear implant. This is the same as providing a child with glasses with only one lens. It is wrong, cruel and unacceptable. These children have a limited time window for the implants to be successful; dragging our heels is simply not an option. The cost is a measly €12.58 million in the context of the overall budget and the impact it will have. It is unthinkable that the Government cannot do it, as it is a small price to pay to give children the opportunity to hear.

I attended a briefing in the AV room prior to the recess with the Happy New Ear group and Dr. Laura Viani, the surgeon with the cochlear implant programme in Beaumont Hospital. I was really touched by the plight of these children and their parents. It is simply outrageous to consider that Ireland's vulnerable children and children in need being ignored due to budget restraints. The importance of early intervention for these children is immense. The younger they are treated, the more chance they have of catching up with their peers and continuing life through mainstream education without a requirement for special needs schooling. By delaying treatment, the Government is increasing the risk that these children will develop additional needs, which will result in a greater cost to the State. This is a matter we can do something about. We can give these children the gift of hearing for relatively little expense. Why can the Government not commit to this? These children deserve to live their lives as their friends do.

I watched the famous debate in which the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, the presumptive Government at the time, were asked about their number one priority. In terms of social justice, they said the number one priority was disability support. There were promises in the programme for Government and the national disability implementation plan. The Disability Federation of Ireland stated:

The disability movement has been hit hard by harsh outcomes [...], the social infrastructure that exists to support them has been decimated and the initiatives announced today do too little to reverse that. Yet again there has been no commitment from Government to support people with disabilities and their families.

That is the verdict of the Disability Federation of Ireland on the budget. The Minister of State sat at the debate last year and was offered the opportunity to examine the threshold of decency. This is about decency. It is indecent not to provide just over €12 million so that the children involved can have the opportunity to live their lives to their full potential. We cannot address many disabilities and there are many in respect of which we can only provide support for carers or try to alleviate or ameliorate the impact. In contrast, this is one we can fundamentally address.

I cannot understand it. The Minister of State and I canvas at election time. In my years in public life, I have never met a voter who said that he or she did not want me to deliver on disability support but wanted me to protect the wealthy and ensure there was no wealth tax for the very wealthy in society. No voter ever asked me to protect the wealthy or to ensure a child who needed a second cochlear implant would not get it.

I never claimed that our party had a monopoly on decency. Deputies and Senators of all political perspectives in this House are thoroughly decent people who have given their lives to public service. What the Government is doing and the policies it is pursuing are indecent. The Minister of State can attend Disability Federation of Ireland events, give a spiel, make commitments in the programme for Government, put in place plans and table amendments to this straightforward and simple Private Members' motion, referring to a new review group and a new clinical care programme, but these political promises will be broken. Who wants it to happen?

Not so long ago, the Minister of State insisted that she had to vote down equality budgeting, even though it is Labour Party policy.

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