Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response but he did not say whether or not he believes in the right to personal assistance. As the Minister of State is aware, in 2017 almost 85% of people in receipt of personal assistance services received less than three hours service per day. We have heard that some people receive as little as 40 minutes assistance per day, such that there is hardly time to get breakfast, showered and dressed to go to work or to an appointment. Some people are in receipt of a very little amount of time. We know the realities of this. Dr. Cathal Morgan sent me an excellent reply on foot of my question to the Minister, Deputy Harris, on this matter, in which he set out the small increases over the years which the Minister of State outlined in his reply but he did not deny the fact that the funding for personal assistance has not increased since 2008. For 11 years, including the three during which the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has been in office, there has been no increase in funding in this area. The reality is that a right to personal assistance is not being delivered. Joan Carthy of the Irish Wheelchair Association, who the Minister of State and I know, made the point that even with the additional 170,000 hours provided last year there are still a wide range of citizens who are not getting the personal assistance rights.

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