Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend and thank Deputy Cairns and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this important motion. The Opposition is united on this issue. However, here we are again having a debate on another motion. What the people in the Gallery demand and need today is to see the urgent action that is required to help people with disabilities to have a better quality of life.

As was said already, the average cost for a person living with a disability is between €9,000 and €12,500 per year. This is just the average cost. Some people are paying much more. Currently, the rate of poverty and social exclusion for people with disabilities in Ireland is one of the highest in the EU. We also have one of the lowest employment rates for people with disabilities in the EU. Institutionalised barriers to education have resulted in disproportionately lower academic attainment for people with disabilities.

I speak as person who is living with a disability. The Minister of State and I had this conversation previously. I can testify that I have had to face many of these barriers to get the basic services and supports I need just so I can get on with my life and have an improved quality of life.

The marginal increases that were introduced in the budget in 2022 for disabled people have been wiped out by inflation. Additional expenses to living with a disability are not recognised by the State, which means that people with disabilities are often caught in a poverty trap. The lack of public services for children with disabilities is also pushing people into poverty. In my area, for example, as the Minister of State knows, there are huge waiting lists for people trying to get occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychology and dietetics.

We heard from representatives from the Quarryvale Family Resource Centre from my area when they appeared before the Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration this year. They spoke about how parents are accessing the food bank in the area because they have to get the supports privately that they should be getting publicly, and it is pushing them into poverty. A figure of 17% of people who used the food bank to feed their families cited the reason for doing so as increased health costs, including having to pay for private assessment needs and speech and language therapies. Imagine having to put yourself into debt simply so that your child has a chance to reach his or her developmental milestones.

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