Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Disability justice is social justice and social justice is disability justice. The Green Paper that was scrapped earlier this week was straight out of the Tory handbook. If we look at what the disability payment scandal did to people in Britain, it shows that pushing people to the margins compounds a terrible issue. Disabled people disproportionately suffer from poverty, alienation and deprivation in terms of employment and living. They suffer discrimination in employment in particular. You and I may not suffer that, but somebody who is disabled may do so, and the way in which this discrimination happens is very insidious.

There is a broad spectrum of justice for people with disabilities, but I will touch on one specific issue relating to children. The situation relating to assessments of need is pretty farcical. Assessments of need are a good concept. The concept is that once the assessment has been given, the services are given to the child, but that is not happening. There is the even more bizarre set of circumstances whereby the Disability Act 2005 is constantly breached by the Government in respect of children trying to get these services. When parents come into our office regarding this issue, my heart sinks because I know the road they are going to go down. The road is almost a dead end in terms of services for their child. If a child does not get an early intervention in the form of speech and language therapy or any of the other vital services, the consequences will be pretty bad, and the fact a child cannot get those kinds of services is horrendous.

The optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, has not been implemented, which does not make sense. I would like to hear the Minister's views on that.

I have first-hand knowledge of personal assistance, given I was a personal assistant for a long time, particularly in the context of people who want to be able to live independently in their own home. We cannot put a price on that service. It is really important that the pay and conditions of personal assistants are improved because it is a vital job for assisted living and trying to give people independence. Moreover, there is communication and a social value to personal assistance and it is undervalued in our society.

Hopefully, with this motion and other motions going forward, social justice can be done for those who are living with disabilities in Ireland.

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