Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this motion. I thank my colleague from the disability matters committee, Deputy Tully, for tabling it.

The Dáil has discussed disability services a great deal over the past five years, but there are still a few elements we have not got right. For example, we have young children who are waiting for assessments to diagnose what is wrong with them. If they have to wait two, three or four years for such assessments, it is wrong. This is the reality of what is happening on the ground, though.

We have refurbished a building in Tuam to house a CDNT 7 facility, but the building alone will not solve the problem. It needs to be staffed properly. This has been an issue for a long time and there does not seem to be any solution in sight. The CDNTs were to be the panacea that saved children’s disability services, but they have not. All they have done is change things around so that parents are now a bit more confused about where they supposedly have to go.

When a child shows signs of something not being right and the parents know it is not right, they try their best to get an assessment to find out what services their child needs. They battle and battle. The Minister of State knows this. She is in my constituency. Many people come to my constituency office in Tuam to find out how they can access services. It is a failure if parents have to come to a politician to try to find out where services for a child with a disability can be found. We cannot explain this other than to say it is totally wrong. There is a lack of services and assessments. Parents might get an email saying their child has been added to a list as if the process of finding a solution has started, but it has not. That is just a box-ticking exercise.

Regarding the protocol that the Cabinet agreed to introduce, I am unsure as to when the accession to it will be complete. I would like to know the details.

The budget is going through, but the cost of living with a disability has not been addressed in any way. A one-off payment is not the answer for a person with a disability. Unfortunately, having a disability is not a one-off, but continuous. We have to view the payment in the cold light of day and ask how we will provide a personalised budget for people with disabilities on top of their disability allowance payments so that they can live independently.

People with disabilities cannot get transport supports. The old supports were stopped 11 or 12 years ago. We have had report after report and review after review, but we still do not have anything to replace them. The state of the primary medical certificate is a damning indictment of the Government. People say that it is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance, but it is not. It is the Government’s responsibility. Shame on the Government that it has not sorted this out. The matter has been under review and the two reports by the Ombudsman over the past ten years have called it disgraceful. It remains a disgrace.

I listened to the debate on child protection. I heard both sides of the House talking. With all due respect to the Government, it was a charade for the sake of political popularity. Children with disabilities need to be protected and we have to realise we are not protecting them as we should in terms of giving them and their parents supports. I was taken aback by the attitude today. That debate was not about protection, but political gain.

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