Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is said that a society can be judged on the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Last Thursday, hundreds of people gathered outside the gates of the Houses to protest for the rights of people with disabilities and highlight the tenth anniversary of Ireland's failure to ratify the EU Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Those with disabilities and their families face many issues. Parents are distressed about the inadequate provision of care for their children as they get older. Some parents are fearful that their adult children will be moved from congregated settings, where they have lived for most of their lives, to community settings. Parents are struggling to transport their adult children to disability day centres.

Is the Taoiseach aware that a significant number of parents, in particular those living in west Cork and Kerry, are driving their adult children for up to four hours a day to the nearest disability day centre? Elderly parents are being forced to drive their children to and from day centres, which means they have to leave their homes early in the morning and may not return until late in the evening, giving them no break.

I have tried to engage with the HSE on this matter in order to get it facilitate all disability organisations in working together to share their transport services and transport as many people as possible, but the HSE has refused to engage with me and other major stakeholders. I am aware that buses around the country are driving only one adult a day to a centre, bypassing many others along the way due to their age and the fact they attend different centres. I ask the Taoiseach to examine policies to integrate the transport services available to disability organisations and for an increase in the transport budget for disability organisations so that every adult attending a disability day centre is provided with access to transport.

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