Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have no hesitation in supporting this Bill. The Minister of State said it was a technical amendment to the 2007 Act with the sole purpose of extending the transitional period but the necessity of the amendment is certainly not technical in the lives of the people affected. I and everybody else throughout the country who watched the programme on Áras Attracta were rendered speechless. Being rendered speechless is not a good position for a legislator to be in. I had the experience of being present at the redress board relating to a number of institutions. It is an offence to talk about the details of that but I will talk in general terms. A charity in Galway which looked after people with a disability was before the redress board and the abuse we heard about was horrific. That was some time ago but what have we and the Government learned? I welcome the Minister of State's strong statements and his promise that he will take charge and not let this happen again under his watch. However, I have heard such speeches before from different Ministers. What will be different this time? It seems to me that no matter which Government is in power, it will make decisions based on resources and vulnerable people will suffer each time. We do not realise that we will use up scarce resources in following cases up with commissions of inquiry and reviews, Garda investigations and so on. I have returned to the theme of money on many occasions since I came into the Dáil four months ago and have spoken of how we end up spending more money in the long term in any event. In our new politics, will the Minister of State have an influence in pointing out that we will save money in the long term by valuing people who have a disability? We can learn from such people on a daily basis, given their strength in surviving with disabilities of which we know little. Our role is to give them the chance to thrive and to allocate funding to enable that to happen. Deputy Ó Caoláin asked about resources. Is the bottom line the fact that we are not allocating enough resources? If that is the problem, let us get it out into the open and discuss it in this Chamber as intelligent beings, so that we can make decisions.

We have dragged our heels for years on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and still have not ratified it. I am delighted that we have now given a commitment to do it before the end of the year but we have been forced to do it. It has not been a proactive policy by any Government and the move to give it priority has come from pressure applied prior to every election, local and general, by people who work on a voluntary basis. I support the amending legislation but would like the Minister of State to respond to the more general issues I have raised.

See this speech in context