David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I was at an event about mental health a number of years ago where a presentation was given by an expert in the field who works on the ground. The person put up a photograph of a car that was held up, not by four wheels, but by plans and policy documents. She was illustrating the point that policy documents and plans are not in short supply. We have any number of them in mental health and the same goes for disability. We had a disability strategy that was never properly funded. Her point was that the car will not go anywhere without resources and that we have to look at people's experiences. Regarding children with disabilities, parents have to struggle almost every day to get the basics for their children. We saw it in recent months when trying to get access to appropriate school places for children with disabilities. Many of them still do not have one and we are tabling a motion on that today. A number of families in Waterford struggled. Additional classes were put on in Waterford schools, but some of those schools are still waiting for the classrooms - the physical space - or teachers.

I am dealing with two cases at the moment of two young men, Joshua who is 18, and Nathan who is 18. They are waiting for access to day care services. They are early school leavers and they are being told they cannot get a date for when their placements will start. This is the response from the HSE.

I must inform you however that it is unlikely that we will be in a position to commence services before the end of September. This is due to a number of factors i.e. the delay in agreeing the funding required; the large numbers of school leavers this year and difficulties we have had in identifying suitable locations for all applicants which required two new settings; and a staff recruitment process.

Through no fault of their own, those parents and young school leavers who are now young adults cannot get access to those day services because of staffing problems, because funding was not released and because the planning was not done. It is the same across the board. We can have all the plans we want and they can be wonderful and the words can be wonderful, but the resources must be made available. I have seen it in my constituency in Waterford with parents and children, especially those with disabilities.

I will mention before I finish one young campaigner, Karl Cretzan, who has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. He advocates day and night, not only for himself but for people with disabilities about public transport and other areas. What people like Karl, Nathan and Joshua want to see is, yes plans, but also resources and delivery. Unfortunately, we have far too many plans and not enough resources or delivery.

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