Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important matter. I compliment my colleague on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, Deputy Cairns, on tabling this motion. It follows on from a motion the Regional Group tabled a number of months ago. It is important we keep this matter on the agenda. Since this debate began, we have heard the Minister of State say that the Indecon report set out that the cost of living, above and beyond normal living, for people with disabilities is in the region of up to €12,000 per annum. That report was done some time ago. Increases in the cost of living mean that sum is probably more now.

The question is how we will address this in a meaningful way. Disabilities are very complex. We cannot just have one-size-fits-all. The Minister of State will be aware of Councillor Gabe Cronnelly in County Galway. He lives in Athenry and is a local county councillor serving on Galway County Council. He is an amputee. Of the 900-odd county councillors in the country, he is the only one serving who is an amputee. As he is getting a salary from the county council, he is unable to get any support to replace his prosthetic limb when he needs to do that. Last week, he got a quotation of €38,000 to replace the prosthetic limb. It is guaranteed for five years. It will, therefore, cost him €7,600 per year, in addition to the maintenance cost to maintain that limb. He has to pay for that himself. The reason he has to do so is he is over the income threshold to get a medical card. One of the questions he keeps asking me is how the discretionary medical card is defined. How is it defined? How do people know whether they are entitled to one on a discretionary basis? It seems to be open-ended without any particular way of adjudicating on it, other than being left to discretion. That is it.

Anybody who has a disability should be entitled to a medical card, full stop. Somebody who has a permanent disability, such as an amputee, should be entitled to a medical card for life. As Councillor Cronnelly often says to me, his leg will never grow back, therefore, he should get the medical card. It is as simple as that. If people who are amputees were given medical cards, the cost of the prosthetic Councillor Cronnelly needs to get this year would be borne by the State. We are supposed to encourage people from the disability sector into politics and public life. This is a case where Councillor Cronnelly cannot afford to get involved in politics because any money coming in from the few pounds he gets as a councillor is actually penalising him. It will cost him €38,000 over the next five years to get the prosthetic limb in place, which he needs. The parts are guaranteed for six months, while the prosthetic overall is guaranteed for five years. In the meantime, he has to pay for any maintenance or any parts that break after five years. When we talk about the cost of living with a disability being in the region of €12,000, that is a generalisation. We need to individualise all this to make sure people who really need assistance get what they are entitled to under the UN agreement.

I welcome Jackie and Emilie who are in the Gallery with others to listen to the debate. They are people who are living with the experience of disability and their families. It is important to state that over the past two years the Joint Committee on Disability Matters has heard from people with disabilities and their families who have recounted their experiences, which are not very good and are not improving. Money is going in but the output is not coming around. The results are not there.

Disabled Artists & Disabled Academics, DADA, is a particular group. When a disabled artist applies for a grant or bursary to do some project, their disability allowances are taken as means. That is absolutely wrong. If we are to encourage people back into work, and to use the skillset and special skills they have, we should encourage them by giving them, possibly, a double bursary and not touch their disability allowances. These should not be touched when we give people a bursary, support or grant. A scheme for disabled artists with disabilities should remove income earning limits and allow them - this is from the artists themselves - to keep their core payment, such as the blind pension, disability allowance or invalidity allowance, to pay for their disability and compensate them for reduced earning powers. Anything like that, where people with disabilities get support and allowances, should not be touched.

These people are very fearful as to whether they will retain their medical cards when they apply for certain grants or for bursaries to enable them to do projects. As a result, we should be safeguarding the provision of medical cards on the basis of medical need rather than income thresholds. That is most important. Discretionary medical cards are causing major problems.

It is important that we look at how we can help people with disabilities who want to help themselves and engage in living their lives and being independent, whether it is through employment, self-employment, music or the arts. We must encourage them. We should not put barriers in the way of their progress. We must ensure that disabled artists can perform in front of people and can spend time completing whatever works they need to enable them to live independently. We must ensure that any grants provided to people with disabilities are treated as something that they are using to give back to society.

We have put many barriers in the way of people with disabilities. We need to strip all that back, whether it is in the area of social welfare, arts grants or disability payments for housing adaptations. We must front-load supports in order to give people the opportunity to complete the necessary works to enable them to live independently. I know of a young woman in Tuam. She was a child when I first met her and is now 18 or 19 years of age. She is still awaiting the completion of an extension to her council house. She is in a wheelchair and cannot have her friends round to visit because there is not enough space in the house. There is a kitchen and a living room, and that is about it. We must ensure that we treat people equally and with respect. The Minister of State has been active in getting things done. I ask her to listen to disabled artists and Gabe Connolly. We must make changes now that will have a good effect on people.

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