Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Tully, not just for bringing this motion forward this evening but for all of her work in this area. We are very lucky to have such an excellent spokesperson.

My colleagues have spoken about the strike action. It is true that it was averted at the very last minute. As somebody who used to work in the trade union movement, I can tell the House that no worker ever wants to go on strike. It is absolutely the last place they want to be, in particular those who work in the community and voluntary sector and those who work in caring roles because they take that work very seriously. It was totally unfair to them and to families.

In the past two to three weeks leading up to this, I read posts on social media where people were asking if somebody would be able to come to their home and help them if the strike happened. That is the situation in which the Government placed people with disabilities and their families. They felt they had to take to social media to look for somebody who might come in to help them get out of bed in the morning. That is totally and utterly unacceptable. All those people and their families stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers in the sector that they know do such excellent work.

Time and again my colleagues and I bring examples of the real-life consequences for people and children with disabilities due to the inability of this and previous Governments to address the significant shortcomings in funding for this sector. The utter failure of the Government to prioritise services for children with additional needs and a disability, in particular, is a national disgrace. The budget should have been the one to change that. I recall the Taoiseach saying last year that he wanted to focus on children and children with poverty and make this a children's budget. That was certainly not the case when it was announced last week.

We are creating a situation, in particular for children with additional needs, whereby we nearly have a two-tier society. If I choose not to send my children to school, I will get a letter after 20 days to ask why they are not in school. If a child with an additional need cannot access a school place or cannot access transport to avail of the school place, he or she is basically just told: "Well, we're doing our best. We will have to see what we can do. Maybe we'll be able to get you a school place by Hallowe'en." There is absolutely no regard whatsoever for the impact that has on these children, their learning or their futures. Sinn Féin's alternative budget committed to implementing the recommendations of the disability capacity review to meet the unmet needs of children across the State. I reiterate the call we made for significant and sustained public investment, which is needed to address the unacceptably long waiting times for children who need assessment and vital therapy interventions.

I cannot accept that there is not a Deputy or Senator in these Houses that is not inundated with families looking for assessments and then looking for those vital services. It has gotten to the stage now where I am being contacted by schools because they are so desperate for children to get those assessments. Those same families have to turn on the news and hear that we have billions in surplus, yet their children cannot get the vital services that they need. The Disability Federation of Ireland monitors staffing on a regular basis. We can clearly see it is extremely concerned about staffing and services. It has catalogued the significant downgrading of services, which it found is having an impact on the relationship between those providing the service and service users. In response to that, what I would like to hear the plan to address these waiting lists. What is the plan regarding section 39 organisations? How is the Minister going to resolve this practically? We have given example after example in recent budgets.

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