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

First of all, I thank the Taoiseach for this nomination. It was a great honour and privilege to be nominated as a Minister of State with responsibility for disability matters. I thank my election team and supporters. I thank my colleagues from all political parties for their personal best wishes. I welcome my two daughters, Caoimhe and Cliodhna, and my sister, Marie, to the Visitors' Gallery tonight. It is a great personal honour and privilege for our family, something I am deeply honoured by.

It is a great honour to serve the people. From a political point of view, I urge Deputies to read the details in the programme for Government. I call on Deputies to open their minds and look at what is on the table. This is no grubby deal; it is a programme for Government. I will not take any lectures from Opposition people who sat on their hands for the past 70 days. Some of us have tried. It was neither easy nor popular, but we tried, and I make no apology for doing that. We will not be taking lectures from those people. I call on people to read page 4 of the document. This programme for Government is all about a just and decent society. It is about a more inclusive prosperity. This partnership Government is unlike any other established in Ireland since the foundation of the State. All of us agree that government is not about having power; it is about using power to effect the kind of change, opportunity and compassion we need and desire in our society.

This Dáil is diverse but not fragmented. We are united in our common cause to make life better for every citizen in every part of this country - every part of the island. This is a shared ambition and it burns strong and bright in the programme for Government. I would like to see an Ireland that looks after its people from the time they come into the world to the time they leave it. I want to see an Ireland where everyone is given the opportunity to succeed, one in which no one is left behind. I want to see the best life opportunities possible for all our people.

I do not accept this talk of a grubby deal. In this programme for Government we will increase funding for home care packages and home help every year. We will extend medical card entitlement to all children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance in budget 2017. Approximately 10,000 children will benefit from this initiative. No one should have the brass neck to call this a grubby deal.

This is a programme for Government, a programme of inclusion, a programme for a just society. The Government will proceed to design and planning stage for a dedicated cystic fibrosis unit at Beaumont Hospital for inclusion in the 2017 capital plan. Cystic fibrosis, and the Members opposite come in here and tell me this is a grubby deal. I will stand and I will take any heat from any Member when I defend people with cystic fibrosis. We are trying to do something while the Members opposite sit on the fence.

In respect of disabilities, I got a commitment from the Minister for Justice and Equality halfway through the talks, not towards the end of the talks. Ireland signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007 and we will ratify that over the next six months. In other words, disability, and the rights of people with a disability, will be at the heart of this Government. We will also support an increase in disability allowance, carer’s allowance and the blind person’s allowance. Please do not insult the people by calling this a grubby deal. We will also support the transport service for young people with disabilities. I ask my colleagues to look at the positive aspects of this programme for Government, and, yes, we are open to ideas, as my colleague Deputy Ross said. We want to be an inclusive government, but we are going to be radical, progressive and responsible.

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