Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this very important debate on the future of this country, the way we distribute the resources in our society and the urgent need to build a new Ireland, built on equality and social justice. I commend and thank my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, on bringing forward this motion, on bringing us all together and on putting forward a reasonable and sensible view of Irish society. If the Government is serious about economic disadvantage, social inclusion and building a better Ireland, it will support this motion and accept the proposals in it. That is the key issue in this debate.

Before I deal with the specific proposals, it is important the Minister listens and deals with the huge problems in the wider society in 2014. Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned that 20% of children live in poverty but the figure is actually 28%. That is a figure at which one must look straight in the eye. It means a ruined childhood for many children. Within that group, one has extremely disadvantaged pupils and those coming from very poor and extremely dysfunctional families, which are often violent. If we do not act in this regard, these young children will be on their way to Mountjoy jail. The Minister should listen to the proposals in this debate because if we do not act and build a more inclusive and equitable society, many of these young children will be lost forever.

Cutting funding to community-based projects, in particular on the northside of Dublin, is not acceptable and that is the bottom line. When I look at the figures in regard to the cuts being made, I am really saddened and annoyed by the amount of money involved. There is a crèche in Darndale currently which is providing an excellent service for many young children. The amount of money it is seeking in order to survive is in the region of €150,000 to €200,000. Compare that to the millions and billions of euro talked about in the Dáil every day. That project is doing a fantastic job but it needs a leg up, support and these kinds of issues to be dealt with by the Government.

Currently, insufficient human rights aspects are included in budgets, which shows Ireland is not in line with the UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee's minimal core requirements. Other than the Department of Social Protection, no other Department carries out a social impact analysis and thus no adequate assessment on the impact of budgetary decisions. The current process of forming budgets does not involve evidence-based discussions. The motion talks about the lack of engagement by the Economic Management Council with the voluntary community sector. It is missing a valuable resource in the wider community and is missing ideas about solving many of the problems. That is a huge issue and the Government needs to listen.

A resource often ignored in this House is people with a disability. People with a disability in the Ireland of 2014 play a vital role in society and that should be accepted. However, 45% of people with a disability experience income poverty while 36% experience basic deprivation. Households headed by people with disability are twice as likely to experience unemployment as those headed by a person without a disability. This issue cannot go unaddressed if we are to reduce poverty in Ireland. Half of those living in jobless households are either children or adults with a disability. People with a disability must not become the new underclass of workers and must be afforded an adequate working wage. Let us hope the cuts in funding to respite day care and residential places stop because they are not sustainable. I hope that with the extra revenue, that will not happen. The reality is that many people are feeling these cuts in funding.

I call on the Government to ensure all people with a disability are guaranteed a quality service as a right. The Government should end all cuts to front-line services. Only yesterday I received a call from a family using the St. Michael's House service. Their daughter's transport to a particular service on the northside of Dublin is being cut. I had another case recently of a severely physically disabled young man who has no power from the neck down and who had a five-day service in the Central Remedial Clinic which was cut back to three days. Where are we going? What kind of society do we want? We need to end the cuts to front-line services.

I said previously to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, that there are many people in our society with a disability and that there is a huge network of people and tens of thousands of families affected. I would love to see a senior Minister with a dedicated responsibility for disability inclusion. That would go a long way to providing the kinds of principles and vision included in this motion.

The Minister and the Government should prioritise funding for disability services in line with the solemn pre-election commitments in regard to disability made by Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. They should also pursue implementation of agreed measures, targets and timelines for these disability services. There is a group of talented people with a disability who are being excluded. Many services have been hammered over the past four years.

I strongly support the call that the income gap between the basic social welfare rates and the income required for a minimum and adequate standard of living is narrowed in each year's budget. Before the publication of budgets, the impact of them on people should be analysed in a social impact survey which should be completed by a cross-departmental body. We should recommend the minimal core requirements set out by the UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee. We should have a guiding vision for Ireland which would ensure coherence at the core of public policy and a commitment to the common good.

We will all jump up and down over the next year and a half and talk about commemorating the 1916 Rising but would taking on board the proposals put forward by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan and the Technical Group and doing something about these issues not be an excellent project over the next 18 months? Then we could march around the GPO in 2016 and say we did something about poverty, economic disadvantage and people with a disability. That would be honouring the men and women of 1916 rather than prancing around and letting on that everything is hunky-dory.

This debate is an opportunity for us to use wealth and resources on the more needy in Irish society. We saw the tax breaks for people on high salaries.

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We could have made other choices. We should look closely at that. Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan’s motion is in line with the Tony Gregory tradition. The late great Tony Gregory fought for more than 26 years on educational, social and economic disadvantage. These are issues that people could rally around to do something over the next year and a half if we are really to honour the men and women of 1916.

It is important that the Government listen to the proposals. For those who every now and again have a go at Independent Deputies and ask what they stand for, this is an example. There is a vision for the country and a sense of social justice in this motion. It concerns the future of the country, social justice and building a new Ireland on the basis of equality and social inclusion. If we implement the proposals in this motion, we can travel a long way and bring in a fairer and more equal society, but above all we can do something for the people who urgently need our help, whether they are homeless, people with disabilities, or those earning a wage that cannot put enough food on the table. These are the kind of people we should stand up for in the Dail. I urge all Deputies to support Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan’s motion.

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