Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Finian McGrath for submitting this Private Members' motion and for being a consistent champion on this issue.

I also wish the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, well in his new job. It is an important job and I have no doubt but he will make the very best effort in it. However, Members should not underestimate the challenges the country faces and the situation in which it finds itself. Members in this Dáil have debated and argued at length about the impact of austerity on all sorts of vulnerable sectors of society that really have been affected, often cruelly, by the economic crash and the austerity that has been imposed - I will not state we had to impose it. Many sectors have suffered but there is no doubt but that those with a disability, those with special needs, those with mental health issues and so on have suffered disproportionately as a result of the austerity programme. Every indicator shows that those with disabilities are affected worst by all these cuts regardless of whether they are imposed in respect of social welfare, education or health. They hurt a lot of people in all sorts of areas but they hurt people with disabilities more. Moreover, all facts and statistics make clear that people with disabilities are more likely to be poor and are becoming even more likely to be poor than other sectors of society. They are twice as likely, if not more, to suffer from or to be at risk of poverty, are more likely to be unemployed and are less likely to get into third level education. That is discrimination and when Members talk about women being likely to be paid less or being less well represented in particular areas of society, they call it what they should, namely, oppression and discrimination, and state that something must be done about it. However, this is precisely what people with disabilities suffer. They suffer oppression and discrimination and the facts bear out this. Consequently, imposing cuts in these areas is a cruel worsening of the position of a sector of society that already is severely disadvantaged and discriminated against.

At the most basic level, I think of those who attend my constituency clinic seeking stair lifts, walk-in showers or grab rails. They have suffered strokes and are physically disabled in some way or other but when they approach the local council to inform it that they need such items immediately, they are told they cannot have them for a year, because the budget has run out, as it has been cut. This simply is unacceptable. It is bad enough for people without disabilities who must try to access public services that are being cut but for those with disabilities, it is even worse. The subject of mental health was mentioned previously and something that is not being discussed enough is the fact there are no inpatient beds for young children with mental health issues. Therefore, they have been turned away when they have serious problems, sometimes when suicidal, or are being put into adult institutions, which are completely inappropriate for them. This is a breach of their human rights, is highly dangerous and is happening because of cuts that are being imposed in the area of health. Housing costs disproportionately affect the disabled and then of course there are cuts to the advocacy groups. Given that there is discrimination, disadvantage and so on for people with disability, the idea that the Government would take €1.2 million from those groups which advocate on their behalf is absolutely unacceptable and should be reversed.

Consequently, it is vitally important that this Private Members' motion is accepted, that those cuts are reversed, that the Government places an absolute special priority on ensuring the discriminatory and unfair position that affects people with disabilities will be remedied urgently and that there will be absolutely no further cuts affecting those with disability in the forthcoming budget.

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