Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As Sinn Féin's spokesperson on disability rights, I am thinking primarily of all those persons with disabilities and their families at home tonight, perhaps watching proceedings, who feel very let down and abandoned by budget 2019 and by this Government. There is nothing in the Government's budgetary measures announced yesterday that suggests that the rights and hope contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified last March, will be delivered any time soon. The additional funding announced yesterday will not even allow the disability sector to stand still. An additional €150 million was the grand total of the Government's announcements. Almost €60 million is immediately consumed by the €5 weekly increase in disability payments.

I am sure most people with a disability would welcome any increase in their weekly subsistence payment but is far from enough. It has been well documented that persons with a disability incur a distinct additional cost to their daily living expenses as a result of living with a disability.

There will also be, I expect, a significant slice of this funding allocated to restore pay to section 39 organisations. I ask the Minister to address this issue and declare the cost of what I acknowledge is a deserved pay deal. I fully support and applaud these workers. They have fought long and hard to have their pay restored. These funds, however, should have come from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, not from disability funding.

Regarding the health measures announced, again we will be at best standing still. The announcement of 100 additional therapists to be allocated to the task of addressing the backlog of assessments of need is certainly welcome. The fact remains, however, that there are children, adults and older persons all over the country awaiting assessment for various needs related to their disabilities.

For the first time ever, a cross-party and independent Oireachtas group, supported by disability sector representatives, was formed this year to frame a budgetary submission to complement the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The Cabinet and every sitting Member of the Oireachtas received the submission. Its contents were not reflected in budget 2019 yesterday. Sinn Féin gave serious address to the measures sought in our alternative and fully costed budget. It was a joined-up budgetary strategy targeting welfare supports, transport, housing, employment, education and health. This strategy requires a whole-of-Government approach. Following yesterday's budget, it also requires a sea-change in mindset. Despite all the grand speeches delivered in March last on the ratification of the UNCRPD, the Government still does not get it.

Last week, I met representatives from the Independent Living Movement Ireland. These disability advocates were not looking for medical solutions. They require a social and inclusive approach which will provide support for the physical acts that their disability will not allow them to carry out. Sinn Féin is committed to provide an additional €25 million for personal assistants, creating an additional 1 million hours of direct support. The Government committed to commission research into the cost of a disability. Persons with a disability do not need more research. Their advocacy groups have carried out all the research that is needed. What they require is an acceptance of their need and a willingness to act on it.

The optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has yet to be ratified by the Government. Following yesterday's budget, the reason is clear to all. Budget 2019 proves that there is no political will to act appropriately on and show good faith with the ratification of the convention. Persons with a disability and their families will not accept this failure. They will not accept being marginalised once again. I put it to the Government that it cannot change what it refuses to confront. The Government needs to confront the glass ceiling that still exists between legislators and policymakers and persons with disabilities. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independent Alliance - I should not leave it out - need to smash that glass ceiling and give our citizens with disabilities their rightful independent place in Irish society.

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