Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish both the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Minister all the best in their new respective roles.

In her opening remarks, the Minister referred to a renewed sense of optimism. That optimism really not shared by people with disabilities in my constituency because they are living with the consequences of the policies of the Government parties and their attitude to persons with disabilities. They tell me that they are close to losing hope. With the greatest of respect, the Minister's remarks are not going to do much to restore that hope for them. We have a situation whereby, effectively, the people themselves are not disabled; society disables them. They are disabled by the fact that they cannot live full lives. They cannot thrive or reach their potential because there are barriers in their way. There is one very small example, which I have raised several times, that really sums up the situation for me. A person living with a disability who lives along the train line in, say, north county Dublin, has to inform Irish Rail 24 hours in advance if he or she is a wheelchair user and wants to use the train. I mean, come on, Minister; it is 2025. If that is not infantilising behaviour, I do not know what is. People must know 24 hours in advance. How are people supposed to hold down a job? How are people supposed to respond to the needs of everyday living if they need to know 24 hours in advance if they are going to need to use the train? It is beyond ridiculous.

The Minister also spoke about the need to focus on recruitment for section 39 agencies, but she did not use the word "parity". She recognised that there is an issue with pay, but she did not use the word "parity". Before I came into the House, I was a full-time union organiser and I happened to be a member of the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU. When Brendan Howlin was Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform at the time and was absolutely decimating, and I mean seriously kicking the living daylights out of, the section 39 sector, we could see that unless there was a pathway back for those people to pay restoration, which was not forthcoming from the Government - I can tell the Minister that because I was in those rooms - they would fall behind and they have. Therefore, the mistakes that were made by the Fine Gael-Labour Government are still being paid for now by people with disabilities. The Minister said that talks are ongoing at the WRC. I welcome that, but I have attended those talks so unless there are people from her Department at senior level who are empowered to take decisions, those talks will fail as talks have previously failed. They need finance. They need senior decision-makers. The unions are absolutely up for the negotiation. The people who depend on the services absolutely need it. What we need from the Minister and the Government is to give the negotiators the wherewithal to resolve this and a path to parity for section 39 and other workers.

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