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

I support Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which states that disabled people should live where they wish and with whom they wish. That is my position. This Government ratified the convention. A lot of people in this House, including Deputy Broughan, sat on the pot for many years and did nothing about it.

Deputy Broughan spoke about hours. As I stated, the number of hours of personal assistance has increased by 200,000. In 2013, there were 1.291 million personal assistance hours. In 2018, the figure was 1.63 million hours. I want to do more and there are people who could do with more hours but I also want to bury a myth. People who receive personal assistance regularly come to my office and I have yet to meet one who receives three hours of personal assistance per week. Most of those I meet get between 20 and 30 hours per week. If there are people who are excluded, I am determined to include them.

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