Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Tonight, there will be people feeling that there is still a long way to go. I read carefully the statement of Senator John Dolan, somebody who I think we all look towards as a thought leader in this field and from whom we have all sought guidance in recognising the challenges for persons with disabilities. I do not wish to misinterpret what the Senator said. It is probably unusual to quote a Senator's words in this House but I feel the need to do so. He stated:

I must also stress that the disabled people of Ireland and their families will only experience the benefits of the Convention if the implementation phase of this Convention is fully and effectively implemented. And this implementation is entirely the responsibility of government.

That is a carefully couched statement and a very positive way of saying that there is a long way to go before we can feel that we have given true meaning to the ratification of this UN Convention. The Senator went on to say:

The UN CRPD simply seeks to ensure that people with disabilities experience their rights. Ireland is a party to the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN, 1948". There are a range of fundamental rights in Bunreacht na hÉireann. Rights related to the person, family, children, education, etc.

The outworking of this is simple. To a large extent, it is a resource issue. As Members of this House, we all put parliamentary questions to the Ministers at the Department of Health. I recently tabled a question to the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, regarding "the number of children under 18 years of age awaiting an assessment of need under early intervention in County Cork; the waiting time before assessments will be carried out; and the number of staff needed to ensure that all assessments are carried out".I have figures before me showing the number of children under the age of 18 who were on the waiting list for a first-time assessment up to December 2017. I will highlight one element of that. There are 5,182 children aged between five years and 17 years and 11 months who have been waiting for longer than 52 weeks.

How can we deal with the issue of assessment of needs? I was hoping for something in the Minister of State's speech about the vision for the deployment of resources to give true meaning to the convention but I did not hear it. Perhaps we need to discuss that issue further. In my constituency, there is a three year old child who has been waiting for a specialised wheelchair since last August. I know I am putting hard cases forward here, but these are the people we are talking about. This concerns the person who emailed us about her view, as a person with disabilities, on the Government's ratification of the UN Convention and the absence of the legislation we are awaiting. It concerns the mother and father of the three year old child. That is a well-publicised case. The child's name is Adam King. We are told that the Government will spend billions on a new national plan. Ordinary people who are waiting for wheelchairs are asking me where is the money for their requirements. They ask when they will get their assessment of needs. Why is it that their son or daughter has been waiting more than 52 weeks for an assessment of needs?

We need to start joining the dots, if we are out of the recession and there is now money in the kitty. The Minister of State has indicated that he has secured extra funding for respite care. He refers to the fact that €1.76 billion has been allocated by the Department of Health for disability services in 2018 and notes that this is a 4.4% increase on 2017. Fair play to the Minster of State. He is doing his job in standing up for his Department and his set of responsibilities. However, the reality is that when we look at how that increase manifests itself, we do not see evidence of delivery of services. Something is happening within the system. It is not delivering for people who have legitimate expectations.

I am hopeful that we can have a greater interrogation of what the ratification of the UNCRPD will mean. I hope that we can have a greater interrogation of what the Government amendments to the Disabilities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 will actually be, and the real outcomes of those for people who are struggling as we speak. Notwithstanding all of that, we very much welcome the motion. However, we need to see it buttressed through legislation. We need to see it sooner rather than later.

See this speech in context