Dáil debates

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Personal Assistance Service: Motion

 

10:45 pm

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Government's announcement that it will support motion. It would be a travesty if it opposed it. We will measure its welcome and support of the motion by what it does to deliver on it. That is what is vitally important. The purpose of the motion is to deliver for people with disabilities so that they can live life to the fullest of their abilities. That is vitally important. We will measure and monitor what the Government does over the next number of months to make that happen.

Some of the comments in the contributions of both Ministers of State were worrying in that context. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, stated that the national disability inclusion strategy, NDIS, mid-term review is taking place, having stated in early 2019, but we do not know when it will be completed. My fear is that it will be completed next March, just before the review of the UNCRPD in April. That is the danger we face and, unfortunately, that is what will probably happen. That is what people with disabilities can look forward to happening.

The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, in her contribution, stated: "It is important to remember that an individual's personal assistance hours need to be flexible and may be adjusted following a service review where service demand can result in one individual's service being reduced in order to address priority needs of other people with disabilities within that community". That sounds like a car being brought to a garage for a service review. This is people's lives we talking about. Why should the health services determine the review? Why can people with a disability not determine whether they have too many hours and can offer to give the hours back, if that is the case? That is not what is being offered to people and that is not what is happening on the ground. That, to my mind, is shocking and a sentence like that read by the Minister of State is terrible.

The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, stated that section 7 of the Health Act 2004 specifies: "The object of the Executive is to use the resources available to it in the most beneficial, effective and efficient manner to improve, promote and protect the health and welfare of the public." That is what we are talking about. It comes down to the HSE and the health services choosing to read that in a way that allows them to cut services as they see fit in order to benefit everybody else when one could read it and take from it that it is saying that we provide the services for people and that we will do it. That is the difference in interpretation and that is all it is, but that makes a major difference in people's lives. We have to get beyond looking at these services in terms of how the money meets the service rather than the service being there for the vitality of people. That is what we need. We will measure the Government's progress and commitment to this motion in the future against what was said.

I would like to thank everybody who contributed to the debate, all the Deputies who spoke, of whom there are too many to mention. It was great to have that support for this motion. It sends out a message to people with disabilities that there are people here who support them. I particularly thank the Independents 4 Change Members who supported this motion and allowed myself and Deputy Broughan to bring it forward.

I would also like to thank Senators Kelleher, Dolan and Boyhan who supported the motion in their capacity and have campaigned for disability rights in their work. It gave us all the encouragement to bring this motion forward to the Dáil.

I would like to acknowledge those in the Gallery who have worked very hard on this motion and the Independent Living Movement Ireland, including Eileen Daly, Shelly Gaynor, James Cawley, Brian Dalton, Maryam Madani and Damien Walshe. I pay tribute to all of them.

I would like to especially mention the Donegal Centre for Independent Living which has contributed greatly to the lives of people in Donegal. There are many more disability rights activists who were unable to attend due to the many barriers that exist for disabled people when it comes to travel, particularly when coming from rural Ireland. That highlights even more the need for this motion to be implemented.

I would like to thank Jodie in my office for her contribution. She was mentioned by many speakers and she worked very hard to ensure this motion came to pass.

I would like to particularly thank two people who could not make it here today but who I know are watching these proceedings closely and have been very supportive of this motion and continue to fight for disability rights. They are Vicky Mathews and Frank Larkin, both of whom are from Donegal. Due to the distance and the difficulties involved they could not travel here. That highlights the need for this motion to be implemented.

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