Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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After the day we have all had, one could be forgiven, in considering the unprecedented scenes we witnessed outside the House, for believing that measures related to medical cards for those aged more than 70 years were the only major mistake in the budget. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The disability sector has been decimated by the budget. I will explain in case Deputies are not aware of some of the measures. The budget was peculiar in so far as some of the detail did not emerge until individual Ministers spoke afterwards. While the Budget Statement provided a global picture, it was only when Ministers spoke afterwards that we learned the detail of other budgetary measures.

Until now, children with special needs or a disability received the domiciliary care allowance worth €299.50 per month until the age of 16 years, at which point they automatically received the disability allowance. Under the budget, the disability allowance will increase to €204 per week, leaving a difference between the two payments of approximately €500 per month. The Government sank to a new low in this budget by providing that children with a disability or special needs will no longer automatically transfer to the disability allowance but will instead wait until they reach 18 years before receiving the payment. This will result in a reduction in payments of €7,000 per annum for each child or €14,000 for the two-year period during which, as a result of a Government decision, children between 16 and 18 years will no longer be eligible for the payment.

Teenagers with special needs have similar, if not greater, needs than other teenagers. Will the new provision be retrospective? Will the disability allowance be withdrawn from those children aged 16 or 17 years who have been in receipt of the allowance for six months or a year? This is the first time I have noted that measures have been introduced retrospectively in the budget.

Other benefits associated with the disability allowance, including eligibility for a medical card, do not attach to the domiciliary care allowance. Will the medical card be removed from people with a disability or special needs who, under the new measure, will receive the domiciliary care allowance until the age of 18 years? When people become aware of this measure, they will arrive in droves outside Leinster House. Will the entitlement to free travel also be removed for teenagers who have to travel to schools outside their parishes? In tonight's reply we will be told about the increase in funding that has been provided for the disability sector over the last number of years, but there will be no mention of what we have gained for this extra spending. Reality on the ground is that there is over a two year waiting list for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and social skills training — if that ever existed. Early intervention is key to providing for the future of children with disabilities. For a child with disability, every day without these essential therapies is a day lost, never mind two years.

Families use the allowance provided to bypass the waiting list and seek the care and intervention necessary for their children. A cut in their allowance, €7,000 a year, will result in many children not getting the help they so urgently need, and they will not become the fully functioning adults that we had desperately hoped they would be. On RTE Radio 1 on Saturday, 18 October, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan said, "We have to protect the most vulnerable in our society, and these are the people on social welfare payments". This underhand move to withdraw payments from the very people he purported to protect is another example, along with the medical card fiasco for the over 70s, of this budget targeting the most vulnerable. It has been clear for a number of years that this Government cannot protect the sick and it is now clear that it does not want to protect the elderly or those with disabilities. The question is very clear. This particular move has to be reversed, and it will be, by force of public opinion. In the meantime, to clarify certain positions, will people who are now between 16 and 18, on disability allowance, have their allowances removed? What is to happen in relation to the medical card that normally comes with this, and the free travel pass? Is this Minister prepared to stand over that? These savings are colossal for those least able to give them up, so what is going to happen to that money?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Lynch for the opportunity to set out the background and context for the changes being introduced to the disability allowance, DA, and domiciliary care allowance, DCA, schemes. The current arrangements provide that DA, a weekly payment made to persons with a disability whose employment capacity is substantially restricted by reason of his or her disability and whose means are insufficient to meet his or her needs and those of dependents, can be paid from age 16. This age limit was established in 1953 as a qualifying condition for the disabled person's maintenance allowance, DPMA, and was carried into the DA when it replaced the DPMA in 1996. It was linked to ability to work at a time when most young people would have left school by the end of 16 years to enter the workforce.

The social welfare system does not, in general, provide benefits which could be viewed as encouraging early school leaving and, accordingly, 18 is normally used as the minimum age for qualification for means-tested payments in a person's own right.

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is an umbrella organisation for 63 voluntary agencies which provide direct services to people with intellectual disabilities. Its members account for in excess of 85% of this country's direct service provision to people with an intellectual disability. In its submission to the Department's review of the DA, the federation argued:

At present the age for receipt of DA is 16 years. We deem this to be too young. This does not give an incentive for a child to pursue work/education options. Subsequently a child may fall into the dependency trap too early. Instead parents should receive the Domiciliary Care Allowance for the child until they are 18 years old.

The Government has decided to implement this change. The age of eligibility for entitlement to DA is being increased from 16 to 18 for new claimants only. This change will not affect existing 16 and 17 year olds on DA.

The DCA has hitherto been payable to parents of children from birth to the age of 16 who are living at home and have a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention which is substantially in excess of that normally required by a child of the same age. As an alleviating measure for the change in the DA scheme, the age for entitlement to the DCA is being increased from 16 to 18 years. The Deputy will be aware that the medical card is means tested and can also be given as a discretionary card to people with severe needs — and of course, those young people may be eligible for that as well.

Parents who are caring for a disabled 16 or 17 year old on a full-time basis may also qualify for carer's benefit or carer's allowance if they are receiving the DCA. In practice, children in respect of whom DCA is in payment are deemed to require full-time care and attention, thereby satisfying one of the key conditions for receipt of carer's benefit or carer's allowance. Those who are already in receipt of one of these carers payments will, of course, continue to receive the payment.

The Deputy asked about free travel to take these young people to special schools outside the parish. Young people who are attending special schools also qualify for free travel to and from such a school. I can assure Deputy Lynch that the Government will continue to prioritise enabling young people with disabilities to reach their potential through education and access to work, while also supporting their families as carers.