Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge Gary Carney, John Dolan, CEO of DFI, and my good friend Jackie Conboy from Portumna, along with Emilie, who represents DADA. I thank the Social Democrats, particularly Deputy Cairns, for giving me the platform to have a conversation about this on the floor of the Dáil. The ongoing cost-of-living debate has a tendency to focus on other aspects of society but Deputy Cairns can be assured that I, as Minister of State for disability, and all my ministerial colleagues across Government are acutely aware of the significant cost, both financial and human, to disabled people and their families and how critical that is in the current context. The key to all of this is to look at all these issues through the lens of the UNCRPD. Disability is not just a health issue, but affects all aspects of one's life and the issues must be addressed holistically across Government.

In the time I have, I have to get to the nub of it in relation to Deputy Cairns' asks from Government. One ask is to publish the action plan and implement the disability capacity review, including setting out a plan to fill the 732 vacant posts for therapists providing services for children with disability. I will do that. I am within three or four weeks of providing that action plan around 732 posts. That will be done.

In relation to the cost of disability, I have signed off on it. It has gone to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and is with him. My officials beside me are meeting with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform tomorrow on it. We are within weeks of having it published. It is not just an action plan; it is backed with money.

I have mulled over it for some time and think it talks to the piece that Deputy Duncan Smith spoke about, making sure we have proper signposting signage to tell us exactly where we can. I have put in extra pieces from early years right through to the older person to ensure that when we talk about residential care and respite, it is the whole package and, when one enters services, one can transition; and to ensure that when we look at respite, we also look at alternative respite and at what that looks like. When we look at transitioning to residential, what does residential look like? Is it supported and independent? Is it the complex residential piece?

Deputy Michael Moynihan is so right that not everything has to come to a crisis but, at the moment, there is not that forward-planning and capacity-building in the system and we need to have it. In the same way, when children hit the age of 17 they exit children's services but fall off a cliff and go nowhere. They have been used to respite and now go into adult services and there is no respite available for them. We need to look at that 18-25 piece, which I call the transitioning care piece, and that is put into it. I am putting in a proper ladder so when a parent gets the news they have a child with a disability or complex needs, parents know how the State supports them and how it can be done. This capacity review has it.

I take responsibility for the fact that it has been too long in publication, but there was a lot missing within in. There is no point in having a number such as that we need 800 emergency residential places today. How can we achieve that and build it in? How can we ensure we have equity of access, whether one is in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway or Donegal? Everybody has to have it. Every county council has to have the same message. That is why in the publication of the disability policy within housing there is an acknowledgement that it is not working. However, when you start going forward, you have a UDA. Is it UDA-plus or is it plus-plus? Has that been built into it? Every county manager talks on the same page so there is no difference and when they take on a Part V, we talk about social, affordable and disability. It should not be limited. That is the piece I talk about regarding housing.

I do not want to give figures out but I know I need 740 houses today to stand still and move forward in relation to disability houses. It is the requirement in the health budget to provide the funding to ensure people have the supported independent piece or the complete 24-hour service. Then you are creating capacity. We need to start creating capacity at all levels, from the early years. The earlier you make the intervention, the longer you have and the less of a need on that critical piece because families do not get burned out or feel let down. We can only implement it if we have the money so the money is being sought as part of the Estimates process.

The motion calls on the Government to "honour the commitment in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future to use the findings of the Cost of Disability in Ireland report to 'inform the direction of future policy'". Absolutely, it has to be. Deputy Canney spoke about prosthesis. Prosthesis is at the second highest level within the cost of disability, in terms of the cost for an amputee who does not have a medical card to replace it. At all times we have to break down barriers preventing people returning to the workforce. While I am only one Minister of State standing here, I have to work with all other Ministers because I have to talk about disabled artists, the disregard, the inclusion of them and how we can encourage positive involvement in the workforce without penalising, putting up barriers and breaking down those barriers. That is why I talked to the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, the IDA and IBEC to ascertain what the barriers are for people returning to the workforce. I am not talking about the cost of disability from the point of view of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in relation to those fundings. From talking to our officials this morning, that is an ongoing conversation within budgetary negotiations.

I have heard under-65s are going into nursing homes. That should not be happening and has been outlawed within the HSE. If a Deputy has a case of it, please tell me and I will take it up. We have put funding in to ensure people can be moved out. While it is slow, we are trying to build that capacity.

In relation to PAs, I did not wait for the development of the disability capacity report for the publication of the PAs, because I put sixfold into it in last year's budget to ensure we could give people choice to live where they want in the community.

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