Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I very much thank the Independents 4 Change group for this motion, which I welcome. It is something that, I suppose, we should have discussed in detail on the floor of the House previously. I want to acknowledge the work of Senator John Dolan, my fellow county man from Tipperary who is present, for all the work he has done for persons with disabilities, but particularly on this issue, which is something he is quite passionate about, as I know only too well from sitting beside him for so long on various committees. I also want to acknowledge the visitors here tonight.

On 19 April 2018, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, entered into force in Ireland, and yet there has been little improvement in access to personal assistance services for persons with disabilities. Personal assistant services are a cornerstone of the programme of personalised supports that will enable the convention to become a reality for many people with disabilities.

In short, the UN charter extends basic rights, rights which most of us take for granted. The charter guarantees those with disabilities the right to live where they choose, and in doing so, be fully immersed and integrated within their community.

Likewise, the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021, as well as other domestic policies, aims to support people with disabilities to live fulfilling whole lives enabling them to participate fully in the activities of our communities. Personal assistance is vital in ensuring this right becomes a reality for those with a disability.

Approximately one in ten Irish people - 13% exactly - has some form of disability. That could be a physical disability, vision impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability or mental health condition. Incredibly, although many are born with a disability, the majority, to be precise, four out of five people, acquire their disability throughout their adult life. In such cases, persons with acquired disabilities would have often held employment, been active in their community, and also had a fulfilled family life. A disability, whether acquired or not, should not stop that. That is why this motion is so important. However, the latest CSO statistics show that persons with disabilities were more than twice as likely to be unemployed than those without a disability. Even for those with a disability who are in employment, working-aged adults with a disability were 2.6 times more likely to report an unmet need than adults aged 65 and over.

The Government has stated that it aims to increase the employment rate of persons with disabilities from 3% to 6% by 2024. This is laudable but the Government, as we are all aware, often sets targets only to later shift the goalposts.

I agree with the motion that we need to re-frame how we view disabilities, and indeed the provision of personal assistance for persons with disabilities, not as a health problem but as a State service that can help them to carry out their day-to-day work, have a social life, engage in activities and participate. Giving people their dignity is what this debate is fundamentally about. They should be able to participate in every walk of life in the same way as the rest of us.

As the motion states, 84% of those with personal assistance receive fewer than three hours of personal assistance per day, while half receive on average 42 minutes each day. That is completely unacceptable, as the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, knows. I presume he will acknowledge that.

According to an ESRI report released this year, Ireland's provision of home care services to persons with an illness or a disability is one of the worst in Europe. The level of provision for working-age families and individuals with a disability must improve. A disability is not something people play up, or put on, for a couple of hour a day, or, indeed, for 42 minutes so this needs to change.

The motion mentions Sweden as the gold standard and there are lessons to learn here. According to the same ESRI report, unmet need for home care, including those with a disability, was four times higher in Ireland than in Sweden.

Although the issue of personal assistance for persons with disabilities is distinct and different from home help hours, they share many of the same problems. They need to be dealt with.

In the time remaining, I will discuss some of the issues here. There is a deep confusion in many of the different layers in society, in government and in the Civil Service about the differentiation between home help hours and personal assistance and, collectively, we all need to deal with this. That confusion is something that only came to my attention when I was researching the motion tabled by Deputy Pringle and his colleagues. One can see it in some of the responses to questions, not only put to the present Government, by the way. We really need to absolutely distinguish between them. The Government has only a short time left and the Minister of State, despite his good intentions, cannot change the world overnight, but if he could put in place some process to ensure that happens straightaway, it would be one welcome result out of this because it is very much confused. Frankly, that confusion is insulting to those on both sides of the coin. It is particularly insulting to those who need personalised services.

An issue I want the Minister of State to deal with tonight is that when people who need personal assistance and personal assistance hours get home help hours, they are not then taken off the list for personal assistance hours and one does not graduate towards the other. That is not the way this should work.

They are very distinct. When somebody gets one, the person should not be put in the position that he or she will not get the other. Unfortunately, like me, a number of colleagues have heard that story. That is another matter the Minister of State could deal with.

There is no standard procedure for the administration of personal assistance. That is another weakness that could be dealt with easily. I fully support the call for a commissioner for independent living to give people freedom and choice. If the Minister would push to bring that about, this motion will have achieved a great deal. On that basis, I look forward to the Minister of State's responses to this debate.

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