Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh, our co-ordinator and administrator, has put into this. I thank my Regional Group colleagues for their input. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, was here earlier. I do not doubt the sincerity of both Ministers or that they want to do something. I read this report, which contains 33 pages. It is a final report which, if I gave it to someone trying to get money for transport, would depress them. It has a lot of flowery language but I do not see any next steps in it. It will go some place else and at some stage something will happen. In the meantime, which the Minister of State knows, the primary medical certificate is not fit for purpose. It is the responsibility of the Department of Finance, but also of the Government. There are transport schemes which some people avail of because they got them at a certain time and are still getting them. Other people cannot apply because they were suspended and gotten rid of ten or 12 years ago and nothing has replaced them. We can talk all day about co-ordination, a whole-of-government approach and all of that, which we do in this House. I respect we must go through processes, but in the meantime, schemes need to be put in place so people have something to cling to.

The Indecon report showed that the cost of living for a person with a disability is in excess of €9,000 per annum. That is before the cost of living increases; let us not go there. Why not give people who have a disability and have proven they have a disability a payment to allow them to avail of transport? Peter Timmins's report was mentioned. He is retired now and his last report was nearly three years ago. It stated that this was urgent. That is the word he used. I believe it is urgent. There is an urgency with the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, but while preparing something that will be all things to all people in a universal way, there must be interim measures to ensure people get support now.

The assessment process for the primary medical certificate is such that unless a person has lost a leg, a person will not get it. There is no point going in otherwise. There is an expectation that people will get something when they apply for something. There is a sense of rejection when they do not get it. I am aware of a case of a mother who is not physically able to go in for the assessment. To bring her to Galway from where she lives would be a huge trauma. Bringing her to the hospital now and again is a problem, yet there is no facility to come out and see the woman at home. There must be common sense and practicality. At the end of the day, we must put supports in place now as an interim measure until this document and all other reports and working groups, which must do their business, have done so, because in the meantime nothing is happening. It is a serious issue.

Yesterday, there was a presentation in the audiovisual room from Cara Darmody and her father, Mark. It is wrong that a 12-year-old child has to come in here and tell us what is wrong. We should know what is wrong. We are using somebody like that. The platitudes are great but we need to make sure that girl and her father can be at home with her mother, Noelle, to look after her two brothers. She is a great girl and a great example and she is showing us up as politicians. We must rise to her level of determination and make sure we get the support in place now for people with disabilities as an interim measure.

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