Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)

I very much welcome the fact we are having this debate today, and I very much welcome the words and intent in the national human rights strategy for disabled people. Of course, it is about the timelines and the resources, and we have yet to see any detail on these to implement and make good the fine words in the strategy. I want to raise a number of issues with the Minister. Her Department will have to take much more aggressive and leading role in effectively trying to make real, and make good on, these promises, some of them long-standing, to people with disabilities in this country.

My first point is with regard to the Department of Health. There are hundreds of vacancies, particularly in CDNTs throughout the country and in primary care. We heard the Minister say the places are there but that they cannot be filled and that we now need to do something else and focus the health budget on capital infrastructure. I do not think it is good enough that we are throwing in the towel on recruitment with regard to therapies for children with additional needs in this country. There are waiting lists of two, three or four years for psychology and occupational therapy, and it is not good enough that those children are left on waiting lists. The Government needs to do an awful lot more to ensure those places are filled.

My next point is on the Department of education and the Minister's previous portfolio. Sixteen CDNTs in the country do not have a special school in their catchment area. Summerhill CDNT in Dublin 1 in my constituency is one of these. This means no child in Dublin 1 will ever be at the top of any waiting list for a special school. They will always be down the list because they are not in the catchment area. That has to change.

With regard to the Department of further education and training, a wonderful system provided by the National Learning Network throughout the country provides specialist training to those persons, young adults in particular but adults of all ages, with a disability. Often they are people in very vulnerable situations. This year, the number of places in the City of Dublin ETB has been cut from 268 to 252. When we asked the question as to why this is happening, we were told the City of Dublin ETB effectively has to remain within its budget allocation. What is it, Minister? Are we going to ensure the National Learning Network places for adults with a disability are there to provide them with an opportunity in life, to try to get some sort of training or perhaps go to employment or do something else, or will the Minister remain within the stricture that the budget has been filled and we have to leave these people until next year or the year after? To my mind, that is not good enough. It is at odds with the intent of the strategy. We need to make sure the proper resources are in place so that if a young adult, or an adult of any age, with a disability wants to access the National Learning Network, they are not barred from doing so because of budgetary issues in any of our ETBs in the country.

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