Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for their contributions on the budget. I always listen to constructive criticisms but my strong response is that major parts of this budget show that it is a caring budget. In addition, according to a number of independent economists it is the most progressive budget in recent years.

I had the great honour of being appointed Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities two and a half years ago. One of my main objectives was to increase the investment in disability services, which had seen much underinvestment during and after the financial crash. This objective has been achieved. There have been considerable increases in the disability services budget and I am delighted to have secured an additional €150 million for 2019. That brings the disability budget to €1.838 billion. That is a record amount of spending on disabilities. This will allow us to tackle pressing issues such as assessments of need, emergency residential places, respite care, personal assistance and home support hours, among other things. These are my priorities.

Another of my objectives was to put the person with the disability at the forefront of our thinking. That is why this year the disability community and I pushed so hard to secure the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, ratification should mean something to the daily lives of people with a disability and the extra funding I have secured will support this objective. Of course, we are playing catch-up after the downturn, but I am confident that we have been, and continue to be, on the right track in improving the lives of people with a disability.

It is important to highlight the Government's record on these issues in response to the point that this is not a caring budget. I will outline some of the measures we have implemented over the last eight months or so. The carer's grant of €1,700 per family was restored to 101,000 families. Eligibility for the medical card has been extended to children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance, an extra 11,000 children, at a cost of €10 million. An extra €10 million was provided for respite care homes in 2018. Some €3 million was provided for the establishment of the decision support service in order to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There have been €5 increases over three years in the disability allowance and carer's allowance. Above all, the historic measure was that, after many years and despite many parties talking about doing it, last April we ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The points raised by some of my colleagues are very important. When this amount of money is going into the services we must ensure it is spent on the people and families with disabilities. That is a genuine concern. I listened to Deputy Micheál Martin speaking earlier about families in rural Ireland. He made a valid point. In fact, I was discussing it this morning in my office with a group of parents from the Carlow-Kilkenny region. They made the same point. It is something we must examine. The services have to be designed around the person with the disability whether that person lives in a rural area or an urban one. Some people living in urban areas have better quality services than others and that is not acceptable. It is something I intend to tackle head on.

With regard to what is happening in our services, reform and investment are ongoing. There must also be accountability. At present, 8,399 residential places and 182,506 respite nights are being funded. Some 1.46 million personal assistance hours are being provided for 2,357 people. As regards day services, the service plan will deliver 24,856 day places, 42,552 day respite sessions and 2.93 million home support hours for 7,447 people. That work is ongoing. We have 130 new residential emergency places, 135 new home support services for emergency cases and 120 in-home respite supports for emergency cases. As regards new directions for school leavers, there are approximately 1,500 people with physical and intellectual disabilities leaving school each year at 18 years of age. They are going into day services or rehabilitation training and we provide day service support for them.

Another important issue on which I am trying to make quick progress is moving people from congregated settings. Some 170 people are moving from large residential institutions into community settings. The service fund of €45 million over three years is supporting this transition and innovation. The commitment to stakeholder consultation and engagement is key. The neuro-rehabilitation strategy will progress the demonstration project in CHO 6 and CHO 7 on the managed clinical pathway. Most importantly, there is a comprehensive value improvement programme.

These are just some of the things that are happening in disability services. Over the last number of months I have been listening to parents with regard to the priorities for funding. I am delighted to have secured funding for additional therapy posts for assessments of need and therapeutic interventions. We know how important early intervention is in supporting children to reach their potential. The Government is fully committed to progressing disability services for children and young people with disabilities. Increased investment in this area will provide 100 additional specialist therapy posts, which will allow the HSE to put more resources into clearing the backlog in assessments of need. It will also free up resources to deliver therapies to children who are on lengthy waiting lists.

The work, investment and reform have started. We are implementing a caring budget.

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