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

Sa bhuiséad chaill muid deis iontach freastal ceart a dhéanamh ar gach saoránach atá faoi mhíchumas. Sa Bhille seo níl aon athrú air sin. Is mór an trua é. Budget 2020 was hugely disappointing in its missed opportunities and limited ambition for those citizens living with a disability, and I will address this area in particular.

The disability services budget did not start off as a balanced budget. There was a deficit of €16 million, and there is a deficit of more than €30 million hanging around the necks of the organisations that are publicly or part-publicly funded and audited. Other pressures exist as well. Nothing is allowed for demographic pressures this year. How are we to ensure that people with disabilities, their families and others are catered for?

In today's Bill there is maybe an opportunity to reverse a mean and ill-advised decision taken in the course of the summer recess to scrap the rehabilitative training allowance - only maybe. That it should be reversed is beyond challenge. The allowance should be reinstated from whatever quarter, be it the Minister's Department or another Department.

In the grand scheme of things, €3.7 million is what it would cost to restore this payment but the value of the allowance is in the independence it gives to individuals who are in charge of their own budget and indeed of their daily lives and that is what that payment was designed to assist in the first place.

My colleague and the chairman of the Oireachtas disability group, Senator John Dolan, summed up the importance of the rehabilitative training allowance in contrast to basic disability allowance. He surmised:

Disability allowance is an allowance to keep body and soul together for these people. The rehabilitative allowance is to respect and support the commitment of people to undergo learning to move into employment independence in the community and away from reliance on the disability allowance.

Where are the extra training provisions and opportunities that were given as the reason for scrapping the allowance in the first place?

There is also a long waiting list for home support services. It simply cannot be claimed that the Government is seriously providing for citizens with a disability while many who have already been assessed and qualify are still waiting. The waiting list should be cleared immediately.

The carer's support allowance should be increased to €2,000 and the home support services waiting lists should be processed and cleared entirely. Sinn Féin called for an increase in the carer's allowance and benefit by €5 and an increase of €9 in the blind pension, invalidity pension and the disability allowance. Nothing in the scope of this Bill takes account of the continuing damage that is being done by the years of cuts to the networks of support that exist for those with disabilities. As I said earlier, we did not start on a par with the economy as a whole and if there is to be any improvement in the lot of those with a disability, the Government must recognise that ambitious and meaningful measures are needed to make rights real for our disabled citizens.

I urge the Minister to recognise the important role that she and her Department can play and the opportunities that are opened up by her position at Cabinet. I urge her to take note of the serious deficiencies that are affecting an important and special section of our society.

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