Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The story for people with disabilities continues to worsen year after year. Access to therapies is simply appalling and respite care and opportunities for work for people with disabilities are very poor. The assessment of need statutory rules are continuously breached, but much worse is happening. I could go through a whole range of services for people with disabilities which are very poor indeed.

The latest survey on income and living conditions, SILC, data reveals the deterioration in the numbers of people with disabilities who are out of work due to illness. The situation has deteriorated between, for example, 2014 and 2015. There was a significant increase in the number of people with disabilities at risk of poverty, from 25% to 34%. The consistent poverty rate increased from 14% to 22%. The Taoiseach knows that living in poverty and social exclusion is difficult, but it is particularly difficult for people with a disability.

I refer to the assessment of needs under the Disability Act. At the end of May this year, there were nearly 4,120 children waiting longer than the three-month statutory rule for assessment.

The Taoiseach knows that delays in getting assessments mean delays in interventions and this compromises the future development potential of any child in terms of their well-being and their future lives. We have now reached the stage where families are launching an action against the State to compel it to assess their children within the statutory guidelines.

We also know that the Government scrapped the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant in 2013. An interdepartmental group was established. The Taoiseach was Minister for Health at the time and probably had some knowledge of this. The Minister for Health was given responsibility for bringing in a new scheme for people with disabilities. We have been waiting for the new scheme for four years and seven months, longer than the duration of the First World War. There is no excuse for this inertia and lack of progress.

In terms of essential therapies, particularly occupational therapy, the assessment waiting lists have surged by nearly 50% in two years. A total of 29,600 individuals are waiting, of which 6,800 have been waiting over a year for an assessment for occupational therapy. The figures up to the end of May show an increase of 9,000-odd over the 2015 figure. The largest cohort consists of those under 17. Nearly half of people on that list are under 17. This is only for assessment. We all know about the long delays in terms of subsequent intervention and the provision of services and that those involved in disability are very disillusioned by the response in terms of the disability strategy and so forth. Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that things are bad, that they are getting worse for children, teenagers and people with disabilities and that there is an urgent need in the forthcoming budget and the Estimates to once and for all tackle this unacceptable blight on our society?

See this speech in context