Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget. I want first to compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on her extraordinary work over the past 12 to 15 months in regard to the disability sector. It is fantastic to have a Minister of State with an in-depth knowledge of the sector apply her considerable strengths in that regard to address the challenges within the sector. The budget provides for approximately €135 million in funding for the disability sector. That is desperately needed funding. It comes on top of the €140 million provided in last year's budget to bring the disability sector back into view. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters, which is a cross-party committee, meets weekly to consider issues related to disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. We hear each week of the challenges and lived experiences of those with disabilities. Each week, new issues come up that need to be tackled.

An issue about which I am passionate and desperately concerned is the lack of speech and language therapists and occupational therapists within the public health system. A number of therapists are leaving that system to set up private practices owing to their frustrations with the public system. This is leading to extreme frustration among parents as they scramble to access services elsewhere for their children who, without them, are hampered in terms of best possible outcomes in their lives. We should be focused on putting in place measures targeted at the recruitment of occupational and speech and language therapists for the public health system. We should be looking across the globe to find them. There is an urgency in this area. It is a huge challenge which, if not dealt with soon, will challenge us into the future. As I said, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has considerable energy in regard to this area. I ask her to look specifically at this issue.

Another area of concern is respite services. Additional funding is provided in the budget for respite but there is need for greater roll-out of respite placements. We have a chicken and egg situation in that respite units have been built but they are awaiting inspection by HIQA under various regulations. We need a co-ordinated approach in getting respite further into the public health system to alleviate the stress and strain on families and the lived experiences of people with disabilities. I have strong views on this matter, which I have spoken many times. If the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, takes away or on board anything from my contribution, I hope it will be the urgent need to recruit occupational and speech and language therapists. I commend her on the work she has done to date.

I welcome the changes to the carer's allowance, in particular the change in regard to the income disregard. Every year at budget time I make the point, and I will continue to make it for as long as the good people of Cork North-West elect me to speak here on their behalf, that the carer's allowance needs to be care tested as opposed to means tested. There are many families wherein one or other partner has given up a job to mind an elderly relative, sibling or child but that partner is not eligible for the carer's allowance because of the income of the other partner. The carer is eligible for carer's benefit for two years but nothing after that. There is a cliff. The care need has to be considered. Family carers save the State a huge amount of money while sacrificing their jobs and careers to look after a parent, sibling or child. We need to make sure that is considered by the Department.

It is the next big challenge we are going to have. It should be in the here and now but not everything happens immediately. We need to look at it and ensure it is in the melting pot.

In budget times past, we would get 20 minutes to talk on any issue of importance to us in it. There are a few issues I am looking at. Deputy O'Donnell spoke about the M20 and the gateway between Cork and Limerick. It is sacrosanct. It is hugely important to open up the south west, the part of the country I am so honoured to represent. We must move at pace to ensure that happens and that strategic piece of infrastructure, which has been delayed for quite some time now, is put in place to open up the entire south west, give connectivity and allow us to grow that part of the country.

Everybody has discussed the last year and a half and how rural Ireland has changed and how the mindset of the public has also. It has changed ahead of the politicians in Leinster House and indeed the policymakers. People are working from home. They have moved out of the cities and found a better quality of life. We must ensure we are providing the digital hubs in the villages and towns across the country. We must ensure they are resourced properly, funded properly and that people can work there on a part-time or blended basis. It is vitally important that the Government, and the Departments especially, take heed. People have been working from home and have been doing an absolutely excellent job in their roles over the past 18 months. The Government should take a number of spaces in the rural digital hubs for its employees. It should take three, four, five, ten or whatever the percentage is of the space in a digital hub and the rest of the space can be used by the private sector. It would give the backup to ensure communities will come on board. A huge number of people are working from home on behalf of the State right across the country and if those digital hubs had a guaranteed income, it would be important. It must be looked at.

I have been dealing with a number of organisations in relation to community employment, CE, schemes, some of which have places available. We must look at that because CE schemes and people working in them are providing a massive service throughout the country in urban and rural areas. They include work in meals on wheels programmes, community centres and GAA clubs. We must look at that to ensure they keep rolling and that the regulation or the challenges there are eased up to ensure there is availability of people. We also should not forget the CE supervisors, whose pension schemes we have discussed and debated at length.

I also wish to address broadband and the importance of our agriculture industry as we go forward. It is the indigenous industry and the backbone of our rural communities. We must ensure we have a vibrant agriculture community as we go into the next decades and ensure we are producing food in an economical and environmentally sustainable way, as we are. Moreover, we must ensure that we can challenge any country in the world in how we are producing it and stand over that, as well as making sure that our place in the markets is secure.

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on the budget.

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