Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support this motion regarding disability and special needs provision and thank People Before Profit for raising this very important issue.

First, I wish to highlight the urgency needed in the full ratification of the optional protocol of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The fact that the protocol and amendments to the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 have been left to languish on a desk for close to two decades is one of the clearest indicators of the lack of care and understanding this Government and previous Governments have for disabled people, the families of disabled children and carers.

Second, I emphasise the importance of acknowledging the real costs of disability via the abolition of the means test and I welcome the concept of a universal payment. The means test perpetuates poverty and verges on degradation. For example, if a disabled person gets married and his or her spouse earns more than a certain amount, the person loses the entitlement. This fully ignores the realities of disabled people and the cost of disability, as well as the barriers to employment. It creates an economic co-dependency that is detrimental to the disabled person and the person's family. This is just one example of the way this means test plays out. Needless to say, the means test indicates a lack of understanding of why there is a need for such a support and what the cost of disability truly is. The obstacles that disabled people face on a daily basis are immeasurable in respect of transport, shopping, accommodation, employment and education. I ask anyone who believes this means test is appropriate to spend one day overcoming these same horrible obstacles. I guarantee that not only would you agree that the means test ignores reality but you would find new respect and admiration for disabled lives.

Similarly, I welcome the proposal to introduce a guaranteed living wage for carers that is not means-tested and is constitutionally protected. As with its ignorance as to the cost of disability, the Government has shown continually that it has no clue as to what role carers actually provide. Means-testing carers merely serves to further trap families impacted by disability in poverty. It is a slap in the face to the countless family carers who often already have overcome much upheaval in their home and work lives. We should be showing carers gratitude and support for the millions of euro they save the State in providing State care. As the price is good, we should be thanking carers for caring for our fellow citizens. We should be treating them with grace and courtesy, not treating them with distrust and making them jump through hoops.

I fully support the other proposals contained within this motion. My time will not allow me to address them all individually. These proposals outline the facts and statistics of the issue, and rightly so. We need clear and quantifiable information in order to be able to address the issues.

The statistics, numbers, graphs and data must be used to propel us forward in making these vital changes. What must not happen is that we lose sight of the lived realities that have created these facts and figures. Every percentage listed can be distilled to children at home waiting for a place in our education system with their peers. Their parents are begging and battling a system that will not recognise a child's basic human rights. Our mainstream children miss more than 21 days in school and there is an obligation on the principal to contact Tusla. Meanwhile, disabled children are going years and entire childhoods excluded from education, friendships, community and life. We must meaningfully include disabled people in our society. This is as much for our own benefit as it is for theirs.

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