Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I welcome this motion before the House. There is a significant cost to having a disability and for families with a person with disabilities. Indeed, the Indecon report clearly outlines that cost being in the region of €10,000 per year. In that context, I welcome the motion calling for the introduction of a cost-of-disability lump sum payment and an increase to the disability allowance. There is no question but that the Government is leaving out families and people with disabilities.

I want to speak on behalf of families and children in County Mayo under CDNT 3. It covers the region of Achill Island, Westport, Louisburgh, Ballinrobe, Killmaine and Shrule. All these families and children are about to receive a cut in their CDNT's posts. In recent days and weeks, families in this region have been fed a word salad of vague assurances, slippery phrasing and political spin. A Mayo TD, following a briefing from the HSE, told parents there would be no cuts to current hours of front-line therapy, just the removal of a vacant post, as if everything was fine. This kind of political spin is insulting to parents.

The restructuring happening in the CDNT network is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Taking vacant posts to fill other posts is deeply wrong. These families are not confused, as has been suggested. They are tired and heartbroken. They know what they are losing. They know the potential that is being lost. The removal of posts was approved on the basis of need, but removing the post does not disappear the need. It means the chance to meet that need is gone. That is what the Government is doing when it removes a vacant post.

In our region, children have waited over three years for therapy. CDNT 3 was supposed to grow to five speech and language therapists, but instead of that position being filled, the post has been removed. When I was at school, five minus one was four. That is a cut and it has been fed to families as if it were a positive thing. Parents are not confused. They are absolutely devastated. A post being vacant does not mean there is no demand. It means there is a failure in recruitment and retention in the HSE. Instead of addressing the issues of pay, terms and conditions and issues in CDNTs and addressing recruitment and retention, the Government has chosen to remove a post. I am pleading with the Minister of State not to punish the children of south and west Mayo with the loss of a post.

There is a window of opportunity for these children. They have been waiting over three years for speech and language therapy. Imagine being the mother or father of one of these children, rearing them and seeing milestones being missed. That is the reality. The windows of opportunity for these children are closing on a weekly and monthly basis and it is devastating for these families. They know the loss that will be the result of the removal of the vacant post and it is deeply wrong. It is deeply wrong for politicians, the HSE and the Minister to spin this. It is political spin to say this is a good and positive thing. We need to protect the vacant post in CDNT 3 in the west. Almost 1,000 individuals are waiting to be seen by the CDNT in our region. The vacancy of the post does not reflect an absence of need. It reflects the issues in recruitment and retention.

The HSE pay and numbers strategy should not be used to punish the families served by CDNT 3, in Louisburgh, Westport, Ballinrobe, Kilmaine, Shrule and the Neale. That is essentially what is happening. The Government is sacrificing this region because of the pay and numbers strategy. Will the Minister of State bring this back to the Cabinet? I urge the Government to protect and fill the vacant posts, address pay and terms and conditions and launch Operation Shamrock, which we have been calling for, to recruit and bring home our wonderful therapists from Australia and Canada. Let us bring them home, fill these posts, protect our children and ensure we do not let these windows of opportunity close and that they get the best start in life possible. I urge the Government to be straight with the people of Mayo and to protect these posts and the most vulnerable children in Mayo.

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