Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak on the disability aspect of yesterday's budget. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this discussion. I particularly welcome the decision to provide a medical card to all children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance payment is made, which was a key pledge in the Fianna Fáil manifesto this year. The €5 in social welfare payments is also welcome, but I am disappointed that this budget did not begin the process of recognising the additional cost of a disability. This was a key component of Fianna Fáil’s general election manifesto.

People with disabilities have been neglected for years and have suffered greatly as a result of regressive cuts and punitive policies. While there are some welcome developments in budget 2017, it falls short of what people with disabilities require to live full and independent lives. The Minister has allocated €2 million in funding to be provided for projects that provide pre-activation supports for people with a disability, but there appears to be no detail as to how this will be deployed and, furthermore, I question whether it is a sufficient allocation given that the at-risk-of-poverty rate for those not at work due to an illness or disability is 23% and the deprivation rate is 51%. It is clear that much more needs to be done to assist people with a disability to enter and stay in the labour market.

While I welcome funding increases in health services for people with disabilities, it has to be said that no real specifics on what will be delivered have been provided. For example, we are told that additional funding of €10 million will contribute towards the development of a number of other programme for Government commitments, including therapies, respite and other supports. There is no detail as to what this will mean in practice. How many extra therapists will we see recruited in 2017? Waiting lists for occupational and speech and language therapy remain far too high. For example, figures provided to me during the summer show that 3,611 under-18s are waiting more than a year for their first occupational therapy assessment. These figures showed a substantial increase in the number of children experiencing long-term waits for assessment.

Other figures I obtained showed that the waiting lists for speech and language therapy have risen this year, with 14,047 people waiting for a first assessment, which is up from 13,545 last year. The numbers waiting for treatment have also increased over the same timeframe. These figures are concerning. Especially concerning to me is the point that 1,364 of those waiting for treatment have been stuck on waiting lists for more than a year, with 117 waiting over two years. A wait of over a year is simply unacceptable considering that the vast majority of those waiting are children. As we are all told, early intervention is critical for them to support their development. If one considers that the early years are from birth to the age of six, one will realise that having to wait for over a year or two years for treatment is very damaging to those in that age group. In view of this, it is disappointing that we did not see any movement on the commitment for a new model of in-school speech and language therapy. Of course, I realise we will have to wait for the HSE service plan for 2017 to get the real story. We will be watching closely to see that the plan makes a real difference in the provision of critical services in 2017.

See this speech in context